The impact of Integral Coaching on leadership …...who took part in the Integral Coaching programme (also known as Sunrise Leadership Program), a diverse range of perspectives on

The impact of Integral Coaching on leadership

development at Chevron Corporation South Africa

as perceived by Company’s

managers and direct reports

Research Report

Presented to

The Graduate School of Business

University of Cape Town

In partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Business Administration

Submitted by:

Michal Nycz

Supervisor:

Janine Everson

December 2016

ii

Connaître ce n'est pas démontrer, ni expliquer. C'est accéder à la vision.

- Le Petit Prince (1943), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

i

Plagiarism Declaration

1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it

is one’s own.

2. I have used a recognized convention for citation and referencing. Each contribution to,

and quotation in this report from the work(s) of other people has been attributed, and

has been cited and referenced.

3. This dissertation is my own work.

4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of

passing it off as his or her own work.

5. I acknowledge that copying someone else’s assignment or essay, or part of it, is wrong,

and I declare that this is my own work.

Signature ______________________________

Name: Michal Nycz

i

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Janine Everson for her constructive criticism and guidance.

I am also grateful to Deana Edwards and Carmilta Poole for making what at times seemed

impossible, possible.

I would like to thank Mary Lister and Alessio Pruneddu for their professionalism, patience and

kindness.

I would like to express my gratitude to Pamela Bell and Gilly Weinstein for helping me mintenir

le cap.

I would like to thank Alfonso, Alix, Ana, Ania, Asun, Bartek, Brechtje, Ewa, Jimmy, Julia,

Justyna, Karolina, Marie, Ola, Pélagie, Robert, Samir, Stéphanie, Timm, and Vimendree for their

friendship and support throughout the MBA journey.

I am wholeheartedly grateful to my dearest Mom and Sister for their faith in me.

I dedicate this thesis to my Dad who taught me how to dream big.

ii

Abstract

This research performs a study of the impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development at

Chevron Corporation South Africa as perceived by company’s managers and direct reports.

The research method applied in the framework of this research is Q-methodology.

Q-methodology is designed to study specifics, that is to say: viewpoints of specific people,

specific groups, viewpoints within a specific institution/organization. It is designed for the

analysis of statements that are matters of opinion only, not facts.

Through a thorough focus-group procedure, involving Chevron’s managers and direct reports

who took part in the Integral Coaching programme (also known as Sunrise Leadership Program),

a diverse range of perspectives on the impact of Integral Coaching have been sought out to create

a Q set questionnaire composed of 66 statements. Participants were then asked to rank the

statements.

In line with Q methodology, this research sheds light on the perspectives of Chevron’s managers

and direct reports, who accomplished the Integral Coaching programme on its impact on

leadership development. The research should be of interest to coaching practitioners and to

Chevron Corporation South Africa in better understanding the results of investing in the Sunrise

Leadership Program and possibly developing and improving the program further on the basis of

the findings of this research.

iii

Table of Contents

Plagiarism Declaration ......................................................................................................................... i

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ i

Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... ii

List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... v

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ v

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Research Context ................................................................................................................................ 7 1.2. Research Area and Problem ........................................................................................................... 9 1.3. Purpose of Research ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.4. Significance of Research ............................................................................................................... 10 1.5. Research Question and Scope ..................................................................................................... 11 1.6. Research Assumptions .................................................................................................................. 11 1.7. Research Ethics ................................................................................................................................ 11

2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.1. Coaching .............................................................................................................................................. 12 2.2. Integral Coaching ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.3. Leadership ......................................................................................................................................... 23 2.4. Coaching in Leadership Development ..................................................................................... 25 2.5. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 33

3. Research Methodology ............................................................................................................. 34 3.1. Q Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 34 3.2. Research Approach and Strategy ............................................................................................... 37 3.3. Research Design ............................................................................................................................... 38

3.3.1. Steps of Q Methodological Study ....................................................................................................... 38 3.4. Research Participants .................................................................................................................... 40 3.5. Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 41 3.6. Research Criteria ............................................................................................................................. 42

3.6.1. Validity ........................................................................................................................................................ 42 3.6.2. Reliability ................................................................................................................................................... 42

4. Research Findings ...................................................................................................................... 43 4.1. Statistical Analysis of Results ...................................................................................................... 43 4.2. Results Interpretation ................................................................................................................... 51 4.3. Research Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 61 4.4. Research Points for Improvement ............................................................................................ 62

5. Research Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 62

6. Future Research Directions .................................................................................................... 63

References ............................................................................................................................................. 64

Annex 1 – Q Set of Statements on SLP .......................................................................................... 68

Annex 2 – Instructions for Q Set Participants ........................................................................... 70

Annex 3 – Factor Extraction Options, 7-4 Factors .................................................................... 72

iv

Annex 4 – Transcripts of Focus Groups ....................................................................................... 74

Annex 5 - Concourse Mapping to Focus Groups Sessions (25 (Focus Group 1), 27 (Focus Group 2), 28 (Focus Group 3, 4 & 5) November 2016) ......................................... 125

v

List of Figures

Figure 1: The Premise of Coaching according to Flaherty (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching:

Evoking excellence in others. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 8) ................................. 16

Figure 2: Five Principles of coaching according to Flaherty (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching:

Evoking excellence in others. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 10) ............................... 16

Figure 3: Evolution of coaching (Howard, G., & Loos, D. (2005). Integral Coaching: Linking theory to

practice. University of Cape Town, p. 7) .................................................................................................... 18

Figure 4: Domains of competence (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching: Evoking excellence in others.

Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 84) ............................................................................... 26

Figure 5: Experiential learning cycle (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in

leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education.

Johannesburg, South Africa: Knowres Publishing, p. 9) ............................................................................ 29

Figure 6: Interrelationship of finings of Karen Yodaiken (source: Yodaiken, K. (2009). The impact of

Integral Coaching on Toyota Malawi Ltd and Toyota Uganda Ltd. University of Cape Town, South

Africa, p.99) ................................................................................................................................................ 32

Figure 7: Example of prearranged or forced-choice frequency distribution (source: Watts, S., & Stenner,

P. (2012). Doing Q methodological research: Theory, method and interpretation. London, UK: SAGE, p.

17) ............................................................................................................................................................... 36

Figure 8: Prearranged frequency distribution used in the research .......................................................... 40

Figure 9: Visualization of results with plot() method. The statements are ordered by the standard

deviation of Z-Scores of all 3 factors .......................................................................................................... 47

List of Tables

Table 1: Hunt's distinction between Managing, Leading, Mentoring and Coaching (source: O’Flaherty,

C. (2003). Coaching versus Mentoring versus Leading versus Managing. Unpublished article. Cape

Town, South Africa, p. 3) ............................................................................................................................ 14

Table 2: Domains of competence (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in leadership

development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education. Johannesburg, South

Africa: Knowres Publishing, p. 13) ............................................................................................................ 26

vi

Table 3: Essential qualities and skills (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in

leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education.


Table 4: Different learning models by Knowles (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching

in leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education.


Table 5: The Experiential Learning Cycle components (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005).

Coaching in leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.)Brain-Based Executive Education.

Johannesburg, South Africa: Knowres Publishing, pp. 9-10) .................................................................... 30

Table 6: General factor characteristics for 3 factors ................................................................................. 43

Table 7: Factor arrays, total factor scores converted into Z-Scores per statement ................................... 44

Table 8: Absolute difference in Z-Scores .................................................................................................... 49

Table 9: Statements distinguishing Factor 1 .............................................................................................. 52

Table 10: Statements distinguishing Factor 2 ............................................................................................ 53

Table 11: Statements distinguishing Factor 3 ............................................................................................ 56

Table 12: Consensus statements ................................................................................................................. 58

Table 13: Statements distinguishing all 3 factors ....................................................................................... 60

Table 14: Neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing statements ........................................................... 61

Table 15: General factor characteristics for 7 factors ............................................................................... 72




7

1. Introduction

The present explorative research is limited in scope to exploring the impact of Integral

Coaching on leadership development with regards to the Sunrise Leadership Program

developed by the Centre for Coaching 1 situated at the Graduate School of Business –

University of Cape Town2 for Chevron Corporation South Africa, Cape Town as perceived

by Chevron Corporation South Africa’s managers and direct reports.

1.1. Research Context

Chevron’s history started in 1879 with the establishment of the Pacific Coast Oil Co. in San

Francisco, USA. In 1919, as result of company division, Pacific Coast Oil Co. became

Standard Oil Co. The company prided itself with its robust financial discipline, remarkable

product line, creative marketing strategy, emergent refining system, adaptable marine fleet

and wide-ranging pipeline network. An important symbol of the company was respect and

fairness for its employees. The entire company’s personnel benefited from favorable wages

and working hours and conditions. In fact, Standard Oil Co. was the first in the oil industry to

adopt an eight-hour work day for all salaried and contract employees. Standard’s workforce

also benefited from two-week vacations, sick leave and retirement benefits. The fair

treatment had a positive influence on staff morale. At the time of high employment and

opportunities for workers, 94% of workers who served in World War I returned to work for

the company after the War. In 1936, Standard Oil Co. signed a joint venture agreement with

Texaco. The partnership was named California Texas Oil Company, or Caltex. In the years

following World War II, the company was present in over 60 countries. In 1967, the

company created Chevron Oil Europe. That way, it diversified and increased its

manufacturing capabilities in the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres. In 1977, the

company merged all USA-based oil and gas divisions and created Chevron USA. In 2001,

Chevron merged with Texaco creating ChevronTexaco Corp. In 2005, the company changed

its name to Chevron Corp. (Chevron Corporation, 2016).

1 Further referred to as CfC. 2 Further referred to as GSB-UCT.

8

Chevron Corp.’s vision is “to be the global energy company most admired for its people,

partnership and performance, safely provide energy products vital to sustainable economic

progress and human development throughout the world, (…) be the people and an

organization with superior capabilities and commitment, (…) be the partner of choice, earn

the admiration of all [Company’s] stakeholders – investors, customers, host governments,

local communities and [its] employees – not only for the goals [the Company] achieve[s] but

how [the Company] achieve[s] them [and] deliver world-class performance” (Chevron

Corporation, 2016).

The CfC, created in 2012, is situated at the GSB-UCT. The coaching courses designed and

managed by CfC form part of GSB Executive Education. The CfC prides itself with an

extensive coaching practice and academic rigor sourcing in its attachment to one of the most

prestigious university institutions on the African continent. CfC’s mission is to train top

quality one-on-one executive coaches and form leaders who wish to build coaching skills.

The CfC’s knowledge partner is New Ventures West, one of the top coaching schools in the

USA with over 25 years of experience in teaching Integral Coaching. Courses managed by

the CfC are accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF). They also form part of

the continuing education units (CEUs) for the Health Professionals Council of South Africa

(HPCSA) (Centre for Coaching, 2016).

“In addition to [its] specialist focus on coaching, the Centre for Coaching is committed to

ensuring that [Integral Coaching] philosophy and its application to leadership becomes a

recognized business tool and is dedicated to spearheading the awareness, acceptance and

growth of executive coaching and powerful leadership in organizations” (Centre for

Coaching, 2016).

In 2011, CfC and Chevron Corporation South Africa3 joined forces to deliver a coaching

program tailor-made for the needs of the oil company committed to fair treatment and

continuous professional development of its staff. The program, designed in the spirit of

Chevron values, was named Sunrise Leadership Program4. Since its launching, four groups of

Chevron employees participated in the program. In December 2013, SLP was declared

compatible with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) skills

3 Further referred to as Chevron. 4 Further referred to as SLP or the progam.

9

development category. Current, 5th group of Chevron Corporation South Africa employees

started SLP in January 2016 (Everson, 2015).

SLP, managed by CfC, is aimed at:

• “Attracting and retaining key talent at management and professional occupational

levels,

• Making qualified, newly appointed managers more successful,

• Focusing on creating opportunities to accelerate “time to competence”,

• Harnessing the intellectual property from experienced Chevron employees as mentors

as well as accredited external coaches,

• Developing a talent pipeline (grow our own timber),

• Addressing the scarce and critical skills shortage in our industry in SA” (O’Flaherty,

Everson, & Van Aarde, 2013).

On 11 July 2016, the Learning and Development Manager of Chevron, Llewellyn Van Aarde,

expressed on behalf of the company an interest to access a scientifically sound data on the

impact of SLP5. As reported by the Director of CfC, Chevron’s interest is “to measure the

impact of SLP since its launch in 2011 on individuals and the company in an objective to

build a business case for the program by pointing to actual results seen and witnessed by

graduates”6.

Chevron’s interest to scientifically explore the impact of SLP was further confirmed during

the meeting that took place between Chevron and CfC, with participation of the author of the

present research, on 18 August 2016 at Chevron’s head office in Cape Town. During the

meeting the author of the present research received a verbal agreement of the Learning and

Development Manager of Chevron, Llewellyn Van Aarde, to conduct the research.

1.2. Research Area and Problem

Based on the research context described above, this research focuses on the impact of SLP as

determined by results subjectively perceived by Chevron’s employees. In particular, the

5 Telephone conversation between the Learning and Development Manager of Chevron, Llewellyn Van Aarde

and the Director of the CfC, Janine Everson, followed by an email from CfC to Chevron, shared with the author

of the present research. 6 Email communication from the Director of the CfC, Janine Everson.

10

objective of the research is to explore viewpoints of company’s managers and direct reports,

that is the categories of employees who participated in SLP since its launch in 2011.

The problem that the research report addresses is the outcome of investment in SLP

perceived by Chevron employees. Such outcome has so far not been reliably measured.

1.3. Purpose of Research

The principal objective of this research is to investigate the outcome of investment in SLP

perceived by Chevron’s employees. The author aims to explore the viewpoints of Chevron’s

employees on the results of SLP. The results of this research shall support Chevron’s

intention to build a comprehensive business case for the program. Additionally, the company,

together with CfC, might use the outcome of the research to improve and further develop the

program in its subsequent phases.

Furthermore, the researcher’s ambition is to broaden the current academic literature on the

subject of coaching, in particular in multinational corporate context. As explained in depth in

the literature review of the present report, the coaching practice produces little of

comparative and outcome-linked data (Pavur, 2013).

1.4. Significance of Research

The importance of this research for the scientific community relies on enriching the academic

knowledge in the area of coaching with the help of the methodology applied. In fact,

according to researcher’s knowledge and the reviewed literature, Q methodology has so far

not been used to explore the impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development in a

corporate context.

The methodology chosen for this research is Q. Q methodology is designed to explore

subjective perspectives of a group. It is increasingly used across scientific and non-scientific

disciplines (Zabala, 2014).

11

The author of the present research believes that the use of Q methodology might shed a new

light on the impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development. This reasoning lays

foundations for the importance of the present research.

1.5. Research Question and Scope

In the light of the above-defined research context, area and problem as well as the research

purpose and significance, the research question is:

What is the impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development at Chevron

Corporation South Africa as perceived by Company’s managers and direct reports?

The research scope was outlined in the light of the interest defined by Chevron and CfC “to

measure the impact of SLP since its launch in 2011 on individuals and the company in an

objective to build a business case for the program by pointing to actual results seen and

witnessed by graduates”7. Consequently, the participants of the present research are Chevron

employees who participated in SLP. The population for this research will be further

explained in the Research Participants section of the present report.

1.6. Research Assumptions

Due to the time constraints related to the present research as well as the limited availability of

Chevron employees, it was assumed that particular efforts would needed to be invested in

collecting data at all stages of the research procedure. Likewise, it was assumed that all

participants would be committed to the research purpose, that they would be honest in their

replies and that they will share all their opinions.

1.7. Research Ethics

The Research Ethics Policy and Guidelines specified in the handbook published by the

Ethics in Research Committee (EiRC) of the Faculty of Commerce, UCT (2016), were

adhered to throughout this research. The researcher invested all efforts to ensure that

participants’ well-being is considered and safeguarded. This included informed consent to

participate in this research and the guarantee of confidentiality. The ethical clearance of the

GSB Research Ethics Committee to conduct this research was formally obtained

7 Email communication from the Director of the CfC, Janine Everson.

12

on 8 September 2016.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Coaching

Based on the study of growth curve for the field of coaching, Pavur (2013) concludes that

coaching is one of the practice areas that might dominate the future of consulting psychology.

However, this ‘explosive’ growth of coaching practice, argues Pavur (2013), does not match

the development of research in the area.

Smith (2014) enumerates: “coaching has developed dozens of subspecialties — executive

coaching, wellness coaching, career-transition coaching — to serve hundreds of thousands of

clients. Worldwide, there are at least ten professional coaching journals, dozens of

professional coaching associations, and hundreds of coaching schools, along with a research

institute affiliated with Harvard Medical School” (p. 1).

According to Pavur (2013), the research of coaching is suppressed by the excessive demand

for coaching practice. While the tool-driven practice of coaching generates worthy

descriptions, theoretical mechanisms and captivating case studies, it produces little of

comparative and outcome-linked data, argues Pavur (2013).

Based on an extensive literature review in the field of coaching and the interviews with

managers who took part in coaching interventions, and coaches, Pavur (2013) suggests three

categories of coaching purposes:

1. Training and development (i.e. facilitating self-awareness, building social skills,

improving understanding of others, aligning motives and values and helping develop

others);

2. Health and self-actualization (i.e. promoting mental health, maintaining stability,

supporting work-life balance, improving life satisfaction and engagement, controlling

emotions and reducing negativity);

3. Adaptation and resilience (i.e. building relationships, changing perceptions, analyzing

problems, adapting to rapid need for change and redefining values).

13

Pavur (2013) notes the resemblance of the above categories with the classic categories of

leadership behavior, namely: structure, consideration and adaptation, and concludes that

“leader behavior and coaching processes stem from common requirements” (p. 291).

O’Flaherty and Everson (2005a) argue that “coaching” has become a cliché-word in

management practice. It is being applied to all sorts of contexts like sports, strategy

management, corridor advice offered to a colleague, etc. On the other hand, the concept of

coaching applied in the corporate context refers to a researched and track-recorded process

present in developed economies for over twenty years (O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005). There

exists a multiplicity of coaching theories and schools that define coaching in a different way.

To facilitate the understanding of coaching, O’Flaherty and Everson (2005a) take an original

approach of stating what coaching and coach are not. According to the authors (O’Flaherty &

Everson, 2005), “a coach is not:

• Simply an accountability partner who supports someone to reach their goals

• A disciplinarian who changes someone’s unwanted actions

• A cheerleader who supports from the side

• A devil’s advocate who asks different questions or takes an alternative point of view,

simply for the point of debate” (O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005, p. 5).

O’Flaherty (2003) adds that the term “coaching” is often wrongly used interchangeably with

the terms “managing”, “leading” and “monitoring”. The author recognizes that modern jobs

at managerial and executive level require the use of all the aforementioned competencies.

The genuine challenge, however, is to be able to use them in an appropriate manner at the

most suitable circumstances. Hunt (as cited in: O’Flaherty, 2003) suggest the following

definitions:

• “Managing – providing clear, concise focus on outcomes, deliverables and due dates

to the team

• Leading – providing inspiration and encouraging the team towards a vision which

embodies new possibilities

• Mentoring – providing expert advice and guidance, taking members of the team under

one’s wing and providing a role model which the team can aspire to being

• Coaching – providing a development focus for new competencies, qualities and

ways of being as team members” (pp. 1–2).

14

Hunt (as cited in: O’Flaherty, 2003) elaborates further by visually setting the scene as shown

in Table 1.

Table 1: Hunt's distinction between Managing, Leading, Mentoring and Coaching (source: O’Flaherty, C.

(2003). Coaching versus Mentoring versus Leading versus Managing. Unpublished article. Cape Town, South

Africa, p. 3)

Discipline Nature of

relationship (type of

power)

Quality if

relationship

Focus

Managing Power difference

between manager and

subordinate

Accountability;

Clarity of

requirements;

Focus on

deliverables

Performance

measures;

Reliability, stability

Leading Power difference:

leader/visionary to

follower/implementer

Inspirational;

Creating of ‘new’

Possibilities,

visions;

Future opportunities

Mentoring Expert/Learner

Senior/Junior

Development

through expert

guidance;

What to do, where to

go

Knowledge transfer;

Organizational

history

Coaching No real power

difference (unless

combined with a

formal role as above)

Development

through new

insights, practices

and self-awareness

Competency

building;

Enabling new

distinctions and

interpretations;

Self-correcting

ability

O’Flaherty and Everson (2005a) argue that the use of term “coaching” as a “bucket” for any

kind of advice- and influence-oriented activity is misleading for the public and damaging to

coaching. Indeed, in 2006, The New York times cited by Genevieve Smith (2014)

sarcastically advises: “To figure out what you want to do with your life, you could: A) Study

hard in school, get internships in the field that interests you, work diligently and learn as

much as possible at your first real job. Or: B) Hire a life coach” (Smith, 2014, p. 1).

The same magazine changed the tone some years later, in 2011, describing positive results of

coaching (Gawande, 2011) and concluding that “coaching may prove essential to the success

15

of modern society” (p. 53).

According to Hargrove (1995) coaching “involves helping people in groups transform

themselves, their communities, and their world. It involves challenging and supporting

people in achieving higher levels of performance, while allowing them to bring out the best

in themselves and those around them. It means going through a deep learning process that

results in embodying new skills and capabilities. In the simplest terms, it involves expanding

peoples’ capacity to take effective action” (p. 15).

According to Flaherty (2005) the common interpretations of coaching are somewhat

restrictive. They limit the coach to the role of accountability partner supporting someone in

reaching his/her goals or a disciplinarian changing someone’s actions. Flaherty (2005) argues

that while including those two aspects, coaching goes way beyond, and elaborates further on

the products of coaching:

• Long-term excellence performance where a client meets high objective standards of

discipline that the coaching process addresses

• Self-correction where a client is able to evaluate his/her performance and make

necessary adjustments independently of the coach

• Self-generation where a client is able to constantly improve his/her competences

Flaherty (2005) argues that for the above products of coaching to occur, the coaching theory

must respect individual differences among people. It needs to balance between academic

rigor and common-sense experience. The coach needs to account for behavior understood as

being driven by interpretation that an individual gives to the surrounding environment

(phenomenon) and that leads to the actions taken. These interpretations are structured for

each individual. They persist across time, circumstances and events. Consequently, Flaherty

(2005) refers to “client’s structure of interpretation” (2005, p. 9) and argues that it is of

utmost importance to understand this structure of interpretation. Only then, in partnership

with a client, a coach can alter the client’s structure of interpretation by providing language

that allows the client to make new observations. According to Flaherty (2005), beside the

language, the coach needs to provide practices to the client. It is through practice that the

client integrates the provided language into his or her structure of interpretation. It is the

language that allows the client to be long-term self-correcting and self-generating. It is the

practice that allows the client to become a longstanding excellent performer (Flaherty, 2005).

16

Flaherty’s theory can be visually represented as follows:

Figure 1: The Premise of Coaching according to Flaherty (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching: Evoking

excellence in others. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 8)

According to Flaherty (2005) interventions to improve actions of others must adhere to five

principles to be defined as coaching as represented in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Five Principles of coaching according to Flaherty (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching: Evoking

excellence in others. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 10)

17

2.2. Integral Coaching

According to Flaherty and Handelsman (2004), “Integral Coaching is what arrives when two

people develop a professional relationship that is grounded in mutual trust and respect,

directed toward a set of clear outcomes, guided by presence, and informed by broad models

about what it means to be a human being. It is a methodology. It is an integration project. It is

a moment when you feel deeply connected to yourself and others, with a deep acceptance of

everything, and you take practical steps to move forward in life. It is both simpler and more

complex than it sounds. And, at heart, Integral Coaching is not just an “it” we can see and

hear from the outside but also the “I” that lives in our thoughts and emotions and the “we”

that connects us to each other in language and culture” (p. 2).

Integral Coaching was framed within the coaching philosophy called “generative”,

“ontological” or “integral” (O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005) by Fernando Flores (1982). Flores

(1982) was influenced by Humberto Maturana’s (Maturana & Varela, 1987) grounded ideas

on perception, cognition, language and communication. In his research on ontological

coaching, Flores focused on existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger (1962) and the work

of John Searle (1969). The knowledge fundaments built by Flores have been further

developed into Integral Coaching by James Flaherty (2005) and Alan Sieler (2003). Beside

inheriting from Flores, Flaherty’s work sources inspiration from the phenomenology of

Merleau-Ponty (1962) and the philosophy of Wilber (2000). In this light, a coach “observes

and works with key aspects of how the coachee has structured their reality and the nature of

their existence i.e. their perceptions and ways of participating in life” (Sieler as cited in:

O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005, p. 6). This briefly explained evolution of coaching is

schematically represented in Figure 3.

18

Figure 3: Evolution of coaching (Howard, G., & Loos, D. (2005). Integral Coaching: Linking theory to

practice. University of Cape Town, p. 7)

New Ventures West (n.d.), funded by James Flaherty, further elaborates on the 6 major

foundations of theory and research on Integral Coaching as follows:

• Integral Theory

The integral theory is based on works of Plotinus, Aurobindo, Habermas, Maturana and

Wilber (as cited in: New Ventures West, n.d.). The theory covers the entirety of human life.

Its main precept is to exercise a genuine, long-lasting impact on a human being where an

individual is considered fully, seen as he or she is, with no exclusion to any part. The more

profound is the understanding of human being, the more powerful coaching can be (New

Ventures West, n.d.).

19

• Pragmatism

The pragmatism tradition is based on the work of John Dewey, William James, Charles

Pierce and Richard Rorty (as cited in: New Ventures West, n.d.). It focuses on resolving

practical difficulties and acquiring knowledge through experimentation. Consequently, the

objective of Integral Coaching is to impact everyday life of clients. This does not mean to tell

them what they should do using a theory, as such approach would be disconnected from the

actual human being (New Ventures West, n.d.).

• Ontology

Ontology is a branch of philosophy interested in studying being. In particular, the differences

of human being from other species. Consequently, “what is it to be human?” is the

fundamental question of ontology. Coaching must take into account the findings of ontology

if it aspires to stay linked with the real human condition (New Ventures West, n.d.).

• Linguistics

Integral Coaching is informed by linguistics inspired by the works of John Austin, John

Searle, and Fernando Flores (as cited in: New Ventures West, n.d.) who studied the influence

of language on human being’s actions in the social world. The work at a basic level of

language allows integral coaches to introduce a deep change in meaning, identity and

relationship (New Ventures West, n.d.).

• Biology

Integral Coaching perceives human being in his or her entirety where psyche is inextricably

connected to soma. Consequently, the work of integral coaches is funded upon work of

biologists and cognitive scientists (New Ventures West, n.d.).

• Adult development theory

Adult development, distinct from young people development, was studied in depth by Jane

Loevinger, Robert Kegan, Carol Gilligan (as cited in: New Ventures West, n.d.). Integral

20

coaches take into account the current development stage of a coached individual in an adult

developmental stage (New Ventures West, n.d.).

Flaherty and Handelsman (2004) show two main outcomes of integral coaching: competence

and fulfilment. According to researchers (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004), competence is a

capacity that endures, contrary to goal that corresponds to achievement; fulfilment is about

what we are doing, the way we are living and who we are becoming in a meaningful way.

Other effects of Integral Coaching include self-correction and self-generation (Flaherty &

Handelsman, 2004).

According to Flaherty and Handelsman (2004):

“When we are self-correcting, we have the capacity to observe discrepancies between what

we intend and the actual outcomes, between our espoused values and our actual actions, and

then bridge the gap. When clients are self-correcting, they are not dependent upon a coach”

(Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004, p. 3).

“When [we are] self-generating, we have the ability to continuously renew ourselves by

drawing upon resources from without and within. When clients are self-generating, the

development of competence becomes not the final end but a continuous process” (Flaherty &

Handelsman, 2004, p. 3).

Consequently, Flaherty and Handelsman (2004) argue that the power of Integral Coaching

resides in: “including everything and everyone; customized distinctions, practices, and self-

observation exercises; creative and elegant design; blending inquiry and advocacy within the

cauldron of relationship; the power of presence and mindfulness; assessing what will be

useful for this person now; and the two tracks of Integral Coaching [development of both the

client and the coach]” (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004, p. 4). The researchers (Flaherty &

Handelsman, 2004) elaborate on the in-depth meaning of the above concepts as follows:

• Including everything and everyone

Human beings are products of evolution and unique personal narratives carried by the body.

For that reason, coaching needs to take into account as many domains of individual’s life as

21

possible. This does not mean that Integral Coaches are experts at everything. Their objective

is to gain competence in a variety of approaches, including some understanding of

philosophy, linguistics, semantics and developmental psychology. This, with the aim of

appreciating an individual in all his/her uniqueness (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004).

• Customized distinctions, practices, and self-observation exercises

As each individual is unique, the Integral Coaching programs are highly customized. They

focus on new distinctions that correspond to the new ways of seeing. They are composed of

extensive practice of behaviors with an objective of developing competences. Finally, they

involve becoming more aware of oneself by observation of one’s own behaviors, thoughts,

feelings, body sensations and other responses (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004).

• Creative and elegant design

The Integral Coaching appeal to both client’s and coache’s artfulness and ingenuity and

provide an incentive for exploring different angels of viewing a situation (Flaherty &

Handelsman, 2004).

• Blending inquiry and advocacy within the cauldron of relationship

According to Integral Coaching approach, the true power of coaching lies in the cauldron of

relationship between the client and the coach. Both have wisdom and blind spots. Through

the coaching experience, both inquire and learn from one another (Flaherty & Handelsman,

2004).

• The power of presence and mindfulness

Integral Coaching draws lessons from mindfulness practice developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn

(2005) and according to scientific knowledge, strongly correlated with well-being and

perceived health. Integral Coaching indicates the mindful presence as a prerequisite to

listening and taking corrective actions in case of distractions (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004).

22

• Assessing what will be useful for this person now

Integral Coaching puts strong accent on pragmatism, that is to say addressing the question on

what works right here, right now, and with this person (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004).

• The two tracks of Integral Coaching

The two tracks of Integral Coaching correspond to development of both the client and the

coach (Flaherty & Handelsman, 2004).

Integral Coaching is adapting the depth of intervention to individual needs of clients. It puts

accents on: addressing immediate concerns, finding balance, improving skillful

conversations, including learning on how to make and respond to powerful offers,

underlying client’s powers (strong points) and elaborating on client’s relation with life.

Finally, Integral Coaching appreciates all forms of competence and human streams of

development, i.e. cognitive, emotional, somatic, relational, spiritual, etc. (Flaherty &

Handelsman, 2004).

According to Flaherty and Handelsman (2004), Integral Coaching is a creative response to

the following circumstances:

• Global transition and disruption: addressing the rapid social, technological, and

environmental change

• Sustaining organizational transformation and the call for wise and compassionate

leadership

• Putting in action knowledge and wisdom available, representing a constellation never

before available in human history

Lastly, as shown by Everson et al. (Everson, O’Flaherty, Howard, & Loos, 2006), Integral

Coaching contributes to creating “an environment characterized by increased trust, tolerance,

respect and understanding, and fostered learning, growth and the creation of new

opportunities. Integral Coaching has started to unlock the human soul within the

organization. Once this competence has become firmly entrenched, it may well have a

positive effect in terms of business outcomes” (p. 84).

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2.3. Leadership

Bass (1990) notes that “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are

persons who have attempted to define the concept” (p. 11). Leadership is relevant in business,

sports, politics, education, military, religion, and many other contexts. In every context,

leadership is characterized by high level of dynamism (Day, 2012). It is not restricted to one

person or one position. A leader may become a follower and the other way around.

Leadership is intrinsically multilevel as it involves leaders, followers, and situations. It can

range from individual to organizational (Day, 2012).

According to Day (2012), “Leadership requires a social interaction between people –

traditionally labeled as leaders and followers – within a situational context. Focusing on the

leader(s), or follower(s), or situation(s) exclusively and in isolation of each other will provide

at best an imperfect picture of the leadership process. All three forces must be considered in

forging a more complete picture of that process” (p. 27).

April, Kukard and Peters (2013) offer an overview of leadership trends:

• Trait-based leadership based on notion that impact is made by an individual leader

alone and focusing on personal characteristics of such hero leader

• Situational leadership putting accent on a changing world, the changing nature of

people and the need for a leader to adapt

• Transformational leadership encouraging leaders to transform the context of

organizations they lead to crate desirable outcomes

• Servant leadership seeing the role of leader as one of service to customers and

employees

• Steward leadership viewing leader as steward managing the resources.

The above list, without being exhaustive, traces the evolution of the leadership concept.

Spears (2002) argues that “…in these early years of 21st century, we are beginning to see the

traditional, autocratic and hierarchical modes of leadership are yielding to a newer model that

is based on teamwork and community, one that seeks to involve others in decision-making,

one strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and one that is attempting to enhance the

24

personal growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of our many institutions”

(p. 2).

According to Chamorro-Premuzic (2016), regardless of well-established scientific study of

leadership, most people, including Human Resources specialists, are not familiar with the

research findings on leadership. Chamorro-Premuzic (2016) points to an important leadership

potential and presents a number of scientific findings on the subject.

Chamorro-Premuzic (2016) argues certain personality characteristics that permit to predict

the likeliness for an individual to emerge as a leader. According to the meta-analysis

presented by Chamorro-Premuzic (2016), sociable, ambitious, curious, adjusted and scoring

high on cognitive ability (IQ) people are more likely to become leaders.

The best leaders prove to show high levels of integrity. The latter permits them to create a

culture of fairness and justness in their teams and organizations. Leaders’ effectiveness is

equally conditioned by the emotional intelligence (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2016).

According to estimates quoted by Chamorro-Premuzic (2016), leadership is 30%-60%

heritable, in a big part because personality and intelligence, that shape leadership, are

heritable. Concerning the environmental factors, Chamorro-Premuzic (2016), states that

“although there is no clear recipe for manipulating the environment in order to boost

leadership potential, well-crafted coaching interventions boost critical leadership

competencies by about 20%–30%” (p. 4).

Based on structured interviews with leaders of world’s largest and most energetic

organizations Barton, Grant and Horn (2012) conclude that contemporary leaders operate in a

highly volatile environment characterized by little certainty, large complexity and an ever

more intense pace.

“A convergence of forces is reshaping the global economy: emerging regions, such as Africa,

Brazil, China, and India, have overtaken economies in the West as engines of global growth;

the pace of innovation is increasing exponentially; new technologies have created new

industries, disrupted old ones, and spawned communication networks of astonishing speed;

and global emergencies seem to erupt at ever-shorter intervals. Any one of these

25

developments would have profound implications for organizations and the people who lead

them. Taken together, these forces are creating a new context for leadership” (Barton et al.,

2012, p. 6). According to the interviewed leaders, “the emotional and physical stamina

demanded of leaders today is extraordinary” (Barton et al., 2012, p. 16).

A survey on employee attitudes towards management, quoted by Chamorro-Premuzic (2016),

shows that 82% of people do not trust their bosses. Research indicates that 30%-60% of

leaders act destructively and “over 50% of employees quit their job because of their

managers” (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2016, p. 2).

2.4. Coaching in Leadership Development

In the light of the above presented findings, coaching in leadership development seems

extremely relevant. As stated by Pfeffer (2016), leadership is a skill possible to improve.

According to O’Flaherty & Everson (2005a), contemporary leaders are in quest of a process

that creates meaning in both value-added and relational sense-making terms. In this pursuit,

leaders need to grow a capacity enabling them to observe and respect intangible sources of

knowledge and knowing and by consequence, achieve a deeper level of awareness (Arthur et

al., 2000). O’Flaherty & Everson (2005a) argue “that coaching is the ideal vehicle through

which to achieve this seemingly disparate set of objectives” (2005a, p. 3).

Devine and Flaherty (2002) summarize the domains of competence that a leader needs to

develop, in a model based upon the work of Habermas (as cited in: Flaherty, 2005) as

represented in Figure 4.

26

Figure 4: Domains of competence (source: Flaherty, J. (2005). Coaching: Evoking excellence in others. Oxford,

UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 84)

According to Flaherty (2005), “in order to accomplish anything of substance, we must be

minimally competent in each of the three domains depicted in the pyramid” (p. 83). Devine

and Flaherty (2002) elaborate on the Flaherty’s pyramid as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Domains of competence (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in leadership

development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education. Johannesburg, South Africa:

Knowres Publishing, p. 13)

Domains Basis of

reality

Illustrative

characteristics

Competences in

domain

“My” world of

internal nature (I)

Interpretive Consciousness,

subjectivity, self, self-

expression,

truthfulness, sincerity

Purpose

Self-knowledge

Self-correction

Persistence

“Our” world of

society (WE)

Interpretive Ethics and morals,

common context,

culture, worldviews,

mutual understanding,

appropriateness,

justness

Relationship

Communication

Leadership

Inspiration

“The” world of

external nature (IT)

Objective Science and

technology, objective

nature, empirical forms

Processes

Technology

Measurement statistics

Facts & Events(the "It" Domain)

Relationships with Others (the "We" Domain)

Self-Management(the "I" Domain)

27

In other words, effective leaders need to master three realms:

• I, corresponding to personal mastery, including self-knowledge and self-management

• We, corresponding to mastery of relationships and conversations with people through

which influence is exercised

• It, corresponding to tasks necessary to master in order to “make things happen”

(Divine & Flaherty, 2002).

Devine and Flaherty (2002) further developed the above model to address the essential

qualities and skills that a leader needs to master to personify the ‘domains of competence’ as

shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Essential qualities and skills (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in leadership



Domain Quality Skill

“I” Vision

Passion

Integrity

Trust

Curiosity

Self-observation

Self-knowledge

Self-management

Self-remembering

Self-consistency

“We” Empathy

Reliability

Openness

Faith

Listening to (team/concerns)

Speaking (possibilities/inspiration)

Setting standards (developing others)

Learning

Innovating

“It” Rigor

Objectivity

Persistence

Creativity

Focus

Analyzing (inhibiting factors/sources)

Predicting (long and short team effects)

Simplifying

Building models

Organize/Prioritize/Realize

Furthermore, coaching in leadership development has been influenced by the shift from

conventional child-based pedagogic to adult-centered andragogic approach. The distinction

between these learning approaches were studied in depth by Knowles (1984). Knowles’

(1984) research conclusions are presented in Table 4.

28

Table 4: Different learning models by Knowles (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in

leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.) Brain-Based Executive Education. Johannesburg,

South Africa: Knowres Publishing, p. 7)

Aspect Pedagogic Andragogic

Learner • Dependent on teacher

• Teacher has full

responsibility

• Decision as to what is

learned and how, are the

teacher’s

• Only role for learner is to

be submissive

• Lerner is self-directing

• Drive is towards taking

responsibility for self-

concept

• Feel resentment and

resistance when we feel

others making decisions

affecting our learning

experience

• Energy gets diverted

from learning when

ability to be self-directing

is absent

Learner’s experience • Learner has little

experience of much value

as resource of learning

• Experience of the teacher

or learning aids that

count

• Backbone of learning

resides in the

transmission techniques,

e.g. notes, etc.

• Learners enter with great

volume of relevant

experience

• Learning seen as their

richest resource for self

• Techniques need to make

use of experience

• Individual learning plans

are key

• Experience can also be

source of bad habits and

prejudices which learning

must be designed to

overcome

• Rejecting their

experience is akin to

rejecting the person

Readiness to learn • Students ready to learn

what they are told

• Readiness largely a

function of age

• Readiness to learn based

on need to know

something to perform

more effectively in some

aspect of their lives

• Many triggers to learning

exist

Knowles’ (as cited in: O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005) insights provide the following reason on

why coaching is adapted to leadership development:

• Coaching is an andragogic modality

29

• Leaders’ experience is used as basis for action

• During coaching leaders find their own solutions

• Leaders hold themselves responsible for their learning actions (O’Flaherty & Everson,

2005).

To the relevance of coaching in leadership development, Kolb (1976) adds his concept of

‘transforming learning into meaning’ or ‘experiential learning’. The process described by

Klob (1976) follows four phases as represented in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Experiential learning cycle (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching in leadership



The leadership coaching process reflects Kolb’s (as cited in: O’Flaherty & Everson, 2005)

Experiential Learning Cycle as represented in Table 5 and in coaching practice corresponds

to the following coaching stages:

• Concrete Experience – the coachee (leader) becomes aware of the need to change

through process

The Experiential

Learning Cycle

Concrete Experience

Reflective Observation

Abstract Conceptuali

-sation

Active Experimentat-

ion

30

• Reflective Observation – the coach suggests some observations to be done by the

coachee (leader) to make him/her realize the reasons of their position and the reasons

to be stuck

• Abstract Conceptualization – the coach and the coachee (leader) work on alternative

solutions to challenges

• Active Experimentation – the coachee (leader) tries and applies new practices

acquired and assesses the impact of results with the coach

Table 5: The Experiential Learning Cycle components (source: O’Flaherty, C., & Everson, J. (2005). Coaching

in leadership development. (J. Kagan & A. Böhmert, Eds.)Brain-Based Executive Education. Johannesburg,

South Africa: Knowres Publishing, pp. 9-10)

Cycle components Experimental Learning

Concrete Experience Something happens or is happening that causes us to pay

attention

Reflective Observation We consciously stop to think about (reflect on) what

occurred in the actual experience

Abstract Conceptualization Involves developing hypothesis and conclusions from the

experience which need to be tested

Active Experimentation The learner tests their newly developed principles or

hypothesis by taking action which results in new

experience. The cycle repeats itself.

In other words, coaching can play a meaningful role in leadership development as it reflects

the adult-learning processes. Furthermore, as argued by O’Flaherty & Everson (2005b),

Integral Coaching provides leaders with varied opportunities that when applied effectively

produce the following results:

• “Leaders learn to reflect

• Leaders learn to see from other peoples’ points of view

• Leaders learn about themselves

• Leaders learn how to listen

• Leaders learn to give and receive feedback

• Leaders learn to ask the right kinds of questions” (pp. 16–18).

Several studies (Harrison, 2008; Yodaiken, 2009) have so far shown the impact of Integral

Coaching on leadership development exemplified by tangible results for organizations.

31

According to Yodaiken (2009) “the coaching intervention has led to the creation of the

phenomenon of ‘ability and willingness to relate’ resulting in [the following] specific

actions” (p. 79):

• Ability to build relationships

The ability to build relationships occurs between persons at peer level as well as

between direct reports and managers. Those relationships get enhanced following a

coaching intervention. The ability and willingness to relate gives individuals the

opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of each other and in consequence

create a more united work environment (Yodaiken, 2009).

• Ability to have courageous conversations

This ability is conditioned by confidence and conversational competencies. It also

includes giving and receiving constructive feedback. In consequence, subordinates are

more capable to voice their interests with their managers. The superiors appreciate a

better understanding of concerns within their teams. In consequence, they are able to

improve their team functioning (Yodaiken, 2009, p. 74).

• Creation of an empowerment culture

Following the coaching intervention managers encourage their subordinates to find

their own sustainable solutions to problems, instead of expecting superiors to provide

them. In consequence, direct reports feel empowered and experience higher level of

trust towards their managers (Yodaiken, 2009, pp. 74–75).

• Level of engagement at work

Following the coaching intervention, managers reported higher engagement at work

of the staff they were in charge of. The direct reports appreciate the value given to

their work that positively influences their work enthusiasm, their job satisfaction and

decreases the level of boredom. In consequence, the level of absenteeism decreases

(Yodaiken, 2009, p. 75).

32

• Development of a creative thinking environment

The coaching intervention increased innovative thinking and creative collaborative

problem solving as managers would encourage their teams to think out of the box

(Yodaiken, 2009, p. 75).

• Ability to deal with customers

Following the coaching intervention, the customer service index (CSI) rating

improved as direct reports gained on initiative when dealing with customers

(Yodaiken, 2009, pp. 75–76).

Yodaiken (2009) schematically shows the interrelationship of her findings as presented in

Figure 6.

Figure 6: Interrelationship of finings of Karen Yodaiken (source: Yodaiken, K. (2009). The impact of Integral

Coaching on Toyota Malawi Ltd and Toyota Uganda Ltd. University of Cape Town, South Africa, p.99)

33

Harisson (2008) in his research on the impact of Integral Coaching on Toyota Malawi Ltd

concludes that after the initiation of coaching intervention:

• The company observed 92% increase in the Economic Value Added

• The company observed 35% improvement in productivity

• The company observed 25% increase in its Customer Service Index

• 73% of the research participants felt that coaching improved the level of customer

service and management effectiveness

• 82% of the research participants felt that coaching improved their team’s performance

and productivity

• 73% of the research participants felt that coaching improved the quality of

communication with their supervisors (Harrison, 2008).

2.5. Conclusion

The above literature review had for objective to cover scientific literature referring to the

current knowledge, including substantive findings and theoretical and methodological

contributions to the subjects of coaching and leadership development.

Firstly, the field of coaching was defined. Such delimitation of the subject is particularly

relevant in case of coaching as the use of term ‘coaching’ for any kind of advice- and

influence-oriented activity is misleading for the public and damaging to coaching, as pointed

out by O’Flaherty and Everson (2005a). A light was shed on the scarcity of scientific

research in the area of coaching unmatched with the exponential growth of coaching practice.

In fact, the shortage of academic research on the subject of coaching constitutes one of the

motivations for the present study.

Thereafter, the origins and the current state-of-the-art in the area of Integral Coaching was

outlined. Understanding of the concept of Integral Coaching is of utmost importance for the

present research as it is precisely this type of coaching intervention that applies to Chevron

within SLP.

Subsequently, the literature review referred to leadership. Contrary to coaching, leadership

has been widely covered by the academic literature. In fact, Chamorro-Premuzic (2016)

34

argues that “the science of leadership is well established. There is no real need to advance it

in order to improve real-world practices. We should focus instead on applying what we

already know, and ignoring what we think we know that isn’t true” (p. 6).

Finally, coaching in leadership development was examined. The relevance of coaching for

contemporary leaders was supported with the scientific data and exemplified by research

outcomes showing tangible results of coaching interventions.

Consequently, the above literature review constitutes a foundation for the present research

project.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. Q Methodology

Q methodology was developed by William Stephenson (1936) with the aim to gain access to

subjective views, beliefs and opinions. The method is also referred to as the study of

subjectivity (Watts & Stenner, 2012). “Q methodology is a research method with a proven

history for illuminating agreement and differences among individual and group perceptions”

(Brown, 2004, p. VII). The methodology allows to: 1. identify and categorize subjective

perceptions and viewpoints; 2. cluster groups of individuals based on their perception

(McKeown & Thomas, 1988). Stephenson (1936) designed Q methodology to uncover the

subjectivity involved in any situation. Hence, the method allows research on any topic where

subjective perception is at play. It allows to identify cohesions and dissimilarities in

subjective viewpoints across a sample group (Brown, 2004).

Identifying subjective views, beliefs and opinions towards topics is a critical research

objective in the variety of fields, from social, through environmental, to health sciences

(Zabala, 2014). Q methodology is adapted to measure matters such as acceptance of new

policies or technology innovation, leadership styles in business (Zabala, 2014) or health

related quality of life (Stenner, Cooper, & Skevington, 2003).

“Q methodology is often used for the following:

• Identifying important internal and external constituencies

• Defining participant viewpoints and perceptions

35

• Providing sharper insight into preferred management directions

• Identifying criteria that are important to clusters of individuals

• Examining areas of friction, consensus, and conflict

• Isolating gaps in shared understanding” (Steelman & Maguire as cited in: Brown,

2004, p. 1).

The participants in a Q methodological research are presented with a so called Q set, a

heterogeneous set of items (statements) which they are asked to rank order. The Q set

statements are hitherto extracted from each identifiable universe, called concourse. “There

exists a concourse for every concept, every declarative statement, every wish and every

object in nature, when viewed subjectively. All the statements of the concourse are common

knowledge. Hence, the concourse represents the individual’s cultural heritage, born of

history. It is the single most significant contribution to subjective science” (Stephenson as

cited in: Watts & Stenner, 2012, p. 33). The items’ ranking is further standardized through

the so called Q sort, a prearranged frequency distribution (Watts & Stenner, 2012).

Watts and Stanner (Watts & Stenner, 2012) summarize the Q research procedure as follows:

“Participants in a Q methodological study are (…) presented with a heterogeneous set of

stimulus items or Q set which they must actively rank order. The process is to be carried out

from subjective or first-person perspective using a ‘new unit of quantification’ called

‘psychological significance’. Items that have a high (or positive) psychological significance

for a specific individual would then be ranked or scored highly, while those of lesser (or

negative) significance would receive a corresponding lower ranking. This process would

yield a data matrix in which each row is constituted by the subjective evaluations of a single

person. Since all the stimulus items have been ranked or evaluated relative to one another,

and in that way made homogeneous relative to the individual in question, each row of the

matrix must also be treated as a single, holistic and gestalt entity” (Watts & Stenner, 2012,

pp. 15–16). What’s more, Q methodology is not a test of difference; however, it permits a

comparison of viewpoints (Watts & Stenner, 2012).

Standardizing row scores relative to the entire collection of scores per each participant allows

to achieve a single unit of qualification. Typical for Q methodology, prearranged frequency

distribution (also known as forced or forced-choice distribution), as exemplified in Figure 7,

permits to further standardize the ranking procedure by providing a heterogeneous population

36

of stimulus items. Each item “must be assigned a ranking position, relative to all the others,

in the distribution provided. This process is carried out by every participant along a simple,

face-valid dimension, for example [from] most agree to most disagree, most characteristic to

most uncharacteristic, most attractive to most unattractive” (Watts & Stenner, 2012, p. 16).

Stephenson (as cited in: Watts & Stenner, 2012) “believed that ‘trait-measurements for one

and the same person’ would cohere to ‘a distribution fitting the normal curve of error’”

(Watts & Stenner, 2012, p. 17). Consequently, Stephenson (as cited in: Watts & Stenner,

2012) used the normal shape distribution that forces larger number of items “toward the

midpoint of the distribution and permits far fewer at the peripheries” (Watts & Stenner, 2012,

p. 17).

Figure 7: Example of prearranged or forced-choice frequency distribution (source: Watts, S., & Stenner, P.

(2012). Doing Q methodological research: Theory, method and interpretation. London, UK: SAGE, p. 17)

The example presented in Figure 7 shows the number of items that can be assigned to each

ranking position, two items to -5 and +5, three items to -4 and +4, etc.

“One of the great side effects of conducting a Q study is that Q sorters often spontaneously

indicate they have enjoyed participating in the study and that they experienced it as

instructive. After finishing their Q sort, people can oversee their opinion or preference

regarding the subject of the study reflected on the score sheet lying [or the computer screen

as in case of the present study] in front of them, and can make changes if they disagree.

37

These aspects of recognition and flexibility generate a sense of control of their contribution

and of reliability of the study as a whole. Q sorting perhaps requires greater involvement than

standard survey analysis, but apparently does so in a very pleasant and comprehensible

manner” (Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005).

3.2. Research Approach and Strategy

In Q methodology, the data collection consists of set of items (typically statements) that the

research participants sort in a specific arrangement. The statements, extracted from an

identifiable universe (concourse), shall represent all possible viewpoints, beliefs and opinions

on a subject of interest. “The analytical process reduces the data based on principal

components analysis (PCA) or factor analysis (FA). However, instead of correlating variables

(as in regular PCA and FA), in Q the respondents are correlated in order to elucidate the

relationships between them. The standard data reduction method is followed by a set of

analytical steps specific to Q methodology” (Zabala, 2014, p. 163). The final results

summarize the viewpoints, beliefs and opinions of respondents in a form of small number of

sets of sorted statements (Zabala, 2014).

The results obtained on the basis of Q methodological research can be used “to model the

relation between perspectives and other variables, to develop a quick test to identify

perspectives in larger populations, or to understand the evolution of perspectives over time”

(Zabala, 2014, p. 163).

Q methodology is adaptable and compatible with small samples. It is primarily “explanatory

because the patterns of views emerge from the study and thus prevent the researcher from

imposing a frame of reference or pre-determined assumptions and definitions” (McKeown &

Thomas as cited in: Zabala, 2014, p. 164). “It is a mixed or semi-qualitative methodology

because though the data collected are quantitatively analyzed, their interpretation is

extensively qualitative” (Ramlo as cited in: Zabala, 2014, p. 164).

The above explained Q methodology characteristics lie a solid foundation for the use of Q

methodology in case of the present research.

38

What’s more, researchers (Passmore & Fillery-Travis, 2011) argue in favor of Q

methodology in case of coaching-related research subjects. According to Passmore and

Fillery-Travis, “qualitative studies using recognized techniques such as (…) Q-sort (…) have

a valuable role to play in helping us (…) [understand] the richness of human interactions in

coaching” (p. 80).

Finally, the literature review has not revealed any research work that study subjective views,

beliefs and opinions on the subject of impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development

through the lens of Q methodology. Consequently, with the use of Q methodology, the

researcher aims to broaden the current academic knowledge in the field of coaching.

3.3. Research Design

3.3.1. Steps of Q Methodological Study

For the need of the present research a Q set composed of 66 statements on SLP was

developed as represented in Annex 1. The statements were drawn 8 on the basis of a

concourse based on five focus groups9, composed of a total of 19 Chevron employees,

facilitated by the researcher. Each group was composed of 3-5 Chevron employees at

manager or direct-report levels who graduated SLP in the past. In fact, Chevron SLP

graduates are best placed to potentially have a defined viewpoint on Integral Coaching and its

impact on leadership development. Their viewpoint matters in relation to the research subject

and is of central interest to Chevron and CfC.

According to Van Exel and de Graaf (Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005), the concourse can be

based on the following sources: “interviewing people; participant observation; popular

literature, like media reports, newspapers, magazines, novels; and scientific literature, like

papers, essays, and books. The gathered material represents existing opinions and arguments,

things lay people, politicians, representative organizations, professionals, scientists have to

say about the topic; this is the raw material for a Q” (Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005).

8 Statement extraction is represented in Annex 5 9 Transcript of focus groups is represented in Annex 4

39

In case of each focus group, the discussion on the Integral Coaching and its impact on

leadership development was broken down into a series of themes based on findings on the

impact of Integral Coaching by Karen Yodaiken (2009) described in the literature review.

According to Yodaiken (2009), “the coaching intervention have led to the creation of the

phenomenon of the ability and willingness to relate, resulting in certain specific actions: the

ability to build relationships, the ability to have courageous conversation and the creation of

an empowerment culture. The actions themselves have led to identifiable outcomes (…):

[increased] level of engagement at work, the development of a creative thinking environment

and the ability to deal with customers” (p. 79).

In her research, Yodaiken (2009), used grounded theory to qualitative research on the impact

of Integral Coaching. According to Leedy and Ormord (as cited in: Yodaiken, 2009)

grounded theory approach uses data to develop a theory. “The theoretical model is derived

from and grounded in the data that has been collected, rather than taken from literature”

(Leedy & Ormord as cited in Yodaiken, 2009, p. 44). Grounded theory is “designed to build

an explanation around the core theme that emerges from (…) [the] data” (Saunders, Lewis, &

Thornhill as cited in: Yodaiken, 2009, p. 44). It is used “when the ultimate goal of research is

to advance a theory about a process or phenomena” (Creswell as cited in: Yodaiken, 2009, p.

44).

Consequently, the present research is built upon scientifically sound grounded theory

developed by Yodaiken (2009) in the field of Integral Coaching. The theory constituted a

foundation for the concourse that served the development of the Q set of 66 statements.

The developed Q set was administrated to the research participants using on-line software

developed for the needs of Q methodology studies, QsortWare10. QsortWare aims at a smooth

completion for participants and comprises a handful of options for the researcher.

The participants were instructed (Annex 2) to rank 66 statements from their own point of

view. For the need of the study, following prearranged frequency distribution was used:

10 QsortWare was developed by Aleessio Pruneddu at the University of York, UK

http://www.qsortware.net/home.html

40

Figure 8: Prearranged frequency distribution used in the research

3.4. Research Participants

In the framework of the Q methodology, the participant group is referred to as P set (Watts &

Stenner, 2012). As the objective of the Q methodology is to determine relevant viewpoints,

the P set needs to be composed of participants who have a defined viewpoint and whose

viewpoint matters in relation to the researched subject. Brown (ac cited in: Van Exel & de

Graaf, 2005) argues that “the P set is not random. It is a structured sample of respondents

who are theoretically relevant to the problem under consideration; for instance, persons who

are expected to have a clear and distinct viewpoint regarding the problem and, in that quality,

may define a factor” (p. 6). As already pointed out, the aim of the present study is “to

measure the impact of SLP since its launch in 2011 on individuals and the company in an

objective to build a business case for the program by pointing to actual results seen and

witnessed by graduates”11 . Consequently, the P set of the present research are Chevron

employees who participated in SLP.

Taking the above into consideration, the P set in case of the present research was composed

of 14 Chevron employees12 (10 managers and 4 direct reports), including 5 women and 9

men. The average work experience of participants at Chevron was 11,7 years, ranging from 3

11 Email communication from the Director of the CfC, Janine Everson. 12 The quoted figure excludes 19 particpants that took part in the focus groups that served as base for the

concourse.

41

to 25 years. All participants were graduates of SLP. They represented all SLP classes since

the beginning of the program in 2011, until 2016.

According to Watts and Stenner (2012), Q methodology “has little interest in taking head

counts or generalizing to a population of people” (p. 72). “Q does not need large numbers of

subjects (…), for it can reveal a characteristic independently of the distribution of that

characteristic relative to other characteristics” (Smith as cited in: Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005,

p. 2). “Q methodology does not seek to make claims to larger representative groups, [and] it

is less concerned with participant sampling techniques” (Brown, 2004, p. 4). The

methodology is exclusively explorative and as such measures only the opinions of the

research participants who completed the Q sorts (Watts & Stenner, 2005). The above equally

applies to extracting the statements from the concourse that, according to Brown (as cited in:

Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005) is “more an art than a science” (p. 5). Consequently, it should

not be based on a sampling technique (Van Exel & de Graaf, 2005).

3.5. Data Analysis

The objective of this section is to describe the tool used for conducting a Q methodological

factor analysis (data reduction technique) in order to identify groups of individuals that share

the same opinion on the impact of coaching on leadership development at Chevron.

The aim of this analytical process is to reduce the data, based on principal component

analysis (PCA). However, contrary to regular PCA that correlate response variables, in Q

methodology the actual respondents are correlated in order to expose the relationship

between them. This is the reason why it is often called inverted factor analysis (Stephenson,

1936). Analytical steps specific to Q methodology follow this standard data reduction method

with the objective to obtain a small number of factors. These factors, which in fact match

groups of individuals, summarize the viewpoints that exist among respondents, and are

different from each other (Brown, 2004; Stephenson, 1936).

The research data obtained on the basis of the above-described procedure was factor-

analyzed using ‘R’, a freely available language and environment for statistical computing and

graphics which provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques: linear and

42

nonlinear modelling, statistical tests, time series analysis, classification, clustering, etc.13,

using qmethod. Qmethod is a package designed by Zabala (2014) to explore human

perspectives using Q Methodology. The package is devised to perform Q analysis in ‘R’.

Zabala (2014) argues that the package provides many advantages to the existing software: “it

is fully cross-platform, the algorithms can be transparently examined, it provides results in a

clearly structured and tabulated form ready for further exploration and modelling, it produces

a graphical summary of the results, and it generates a more concise report of the

distinguishing and consensus statements” (p. 163).

The practical aspects of conducing analysis with the use of ‘R’ and qmethod package will be

described further in the the Statistical analysis section of the present research report.

3.6. Research Criteria

3.6.1. Validity

As there is no outside criterion for an individual’s point of view, the validity is little relevant

to Q methodology (Watts & Stenner, 2005). According to Small (2011), “Content validity of

the Q set is addressed through sampling of the concourse around the topic in question. (…)

Face validity of the text and statement wording is addressed (…) by leaving those statements

in the participants' (participants within the concourse) words, edited only slightly for

grammar and readability. Item validity in Q methodology is understood differently than in

more traditional survey research. In Q methodology, one expects the meaning of an item to

be interpreted individually and the meaning of how each item is individually interpreted

becomes apparent in the rank ordering” (2011, p. 88). As Q methodology delivers what it

claims to deliver (viewpoints of participants), by consequence it is considered valid (Watts &

Stenner, 2012).

3.6.2. Reliability

As for reliability, a repeated application of Q method informs the researcher of the reliability

of a participant’s viewpoint, rather than the method (Watts & Stenner, 2012). Van Exel and

de Graaf (2005) conclude that “the most important type of reliability for Q is replicability:

13 https://cran.r-project.org

43

will the same condition of instruction lead to factors that are schematically reliable – that is,

represent similar viewpoints on the topic – across similarly structured yet different Q samples

and when administered to different sets of persons. (…) The ability to generalize sample

results to the general population, is of less concern (…) [in case of Q methodology]. The

results of a Q methodological study are the distinct subjectivities about a topic that are

operant, not the percentage of the sample (or the general population) that adheres to any of

them” (p. 3).

4. Research Findings

4.1. Statistical Analysis of Results

The study’s 14 Q sorts were factor-analyzed with the qmethod() package in ‘R’, language and

environment for statistical computing and graphics.

Multiple options of factor extraction were examined as represented in Annex 3, starting with

7 factors, as argued by Brown (as cited in: Watts & Stenner, 2012). The option of extracting

3 factors was eventually selected as in this case almost all participants were assigned to a

factor. Likewise, the option of extracting 3 factors excluded the factor extraction options with

a number of loading Q sorts lower than 2 per factor as suggested by Brown (as cited in: Watts

& Stenner, 2012).

Table 6: General factor characteristics for 3 factors

Average

reliability

coefficient

Number of

loading Q-sorts

Eigenvalues Percentage

of

explained

variance

Reliability Standard

error of

factor

scores

(SE)

Factor 1 0.8 6 3.9 28 0.96 0.20

Factor 2 0.8 4 3.5 25 0.94 0.24

Factor 3 0.8 2 2.0 14 0.89 0.33

Total: 12 Total: 67

As shown in Table 6, the option of extracting 3 factors includes 12 Q sorts and all three

extracted factors include more than 1 Q sort. The 3 extracted factors together explain 67% of

the total study variance. All 3 factors represented in Table 6 satisfy the so-called Kaiser-

Guttman criterion (as cited in: Watts & Stenner, 2012), namely each factor represents the

44

Eigenvalue (EV) of 1.00 or above. Any factor with an EV of less than 1.00 accounts for less

study variance than a single Q sort. In other words, an EV of less than 1.00 constitutes a cut-

off point as extracting factors of this type would not constitute an effective reduction of the

correlation matrix (Watts & Stenner, 2012). All 3 factors represent high reliability ranging

from 0.89 – 0.96.

The factors were rotated using the Varimax rotation function

(Data,nfactor=3,rotation='Varimax') for ‘R’ (Zabala, 2014). This type of rotation does not affect

the independence of the extracted factors while maximizing the variance explained. Varimax

is highly useful for revealing the subject matter of viewpoints (Watts & Stenner, 2012). As

the objective of this research is to ascertain the main or dominant viewpoints within the

participant group, the use of Varimax rotation was privileged.

Subsequently, factor arrays were calculated as represented in Table 7. A factor array is “a

single Q sort configured to represent the viewpoint of a particular factor” (Watts & Stenner,

2012, p. 140). In order to facilitate cross-factor comparisons, the total scores were converted

into Z (or standard)-Scores (Watts & Stenner, 2012). The Z-Scores are weighted averages of

scores that reveal the relationship between statements and factors. In other words, they

indicate how much each factor agrees or disagrees with a statement. Brown (as cited in:

Watts & Stenner, 2012) argues in favor of factor arrays calculation as they conform to the

original data collection format. Consequently, they are more accessible for research’s

audience or readership.

Table 7: Factor arrays, total factor scores converted into Z-Scores per statement

No Z-Score F1 Z-Score F2 Z-Score F3

1 1.75663071 1.355926e+00 2.023001e+00

2 0.50864046 6.779632e-01 9.202430e-01

3 0.28433010 1.266667e+00 1.471622e+00

4 0.27117243 4.464722e-01 1.289107e+00

5 1.01845355 3.284579e-01 1.987265e+00

6 -0.24486443 -7.066612e-01 1.067022e+00

7 -0.86671874 -1.153073e+00 1.987265e+00

8 -0.25423597 -1.748649e+00 -1.546928e+00

9 0.10176823 -1.175648e+00 5.156428e-01

10 0.08260137 -1.086332e+00 3.688640e-01

11 -0.75264192 -4.186423e-01 -2.427601e+00

45

12 -0.91358025 4.602413e-01 8.449367e-01

13 -1.51056739 -1.910022e+00 2.220851e-01

14 0.52145713 1.413065e-01 6.228515e-01

15 -1.98733614 -2.026994e+00 -7.377279e-01

16 0.86140889 1.231016e+00 1.507358e+00

17 -2.18386294 -1.130671e+00 -3.688640e-01

18 -2.00233029 -6.744111e-01 -1.396316e+00

19 -0.03741685 -2.824727e-01 2.973915e-01

20 -1.68945070 -3.789767e-01 -4.046002e-01

21 -0.28228128 1.543589e-01 7.734642e-01

22 -2.21448879 -1.332460e+00 -5.156428e-01

23 0.96523703 1.362799e+00 4.046002e-01

24 0.58971846 1.323771e+00 2.578214e-01

25 -1.67799170 -1.434795e+00 -9.559793e-01

26 -1.09177651 -1.082836e+00 4.762399e-18

27 0.92440002 1.962762e+00 2.023001e+00

28 -0.68596111 -3.634486e-01 2.935576e-01

29 0.13613839 6.033408e-01 3.292939e-01

30 -1.37325003 -1.560573e+00 -1.825151e-01

31 0.19584766 1.231941e+00 8.449367e-01

32 0.76725574 1.806876e+00 -5.871153e-01

33 0.78804500 1.368979e+00 8.806729e-01

34 1.23472502 9.415300e-01 -5.871153e-01

35 0.97677913 1.432342e+00 -2.220851e-01

36 0.83841718 1.032549e+00 -2.935576e-01

37 -0.29754019 1.329082e+00 -7.338941e-01

38 0.38804323 2.427503e-01 -1.110426e-01

39 0.24239784 1.374233e+00 -8.092004e-01

40 0.64768294 1.508068e-01 -2.578214e-01

41 -1.60517342 -1.733955e+00 -6.624216e-01

42 0.10944160 9.982513e-02 4.046002e-01

43 0.67408998 5.756851e-01 8.092004e-01

44 -0.09789267 7.886834e-02 8.092004e-01

45 -0.74876322 -9.858128e-01 8.845067e-01

46 -0.55730713 -4.527082e-01 6.266854e-01

47 0.87696433 -1.150389e+00 -1.467788e-01

48 0.18461692 6.160397e-02 1.467788e-01

49 0.39111528 9.078694e-01 1.102758e+00

50 0.27898815 -2.257551e-02 1.467788e-01

51 -0.69771670 6.006568e-01 -7.734642e-01

52 1.04479370 6.059680e-01 5.909491e-01

53 0.31952373 4.165566e-02 -5.513790e-01

46

54 0.63368302 -1.394332e-02 -8.487705e-01

55 1.48048918 5.193923e-01 -1.582665e+00

56 1.67463134 1.231512e-01 -7.377279e-01

57 1.73434062 5.895717e-01 6.981579e-01

58 -0.20648524 -2.228020e-01 -1.178064e+00

59 -0.73101211 -4.551044e-01 -1.582665e+00

60 0.04561942 -7.290625e-01 -1.067022e+00

61 0.72394469 5.892004e-02 -1.765180e+00

62 -0.46200290 -3.960101e-01 -7.147250e-02

63 -0.17126599 5.923683e-18 -1.213801e+00

64 -0.72221158 -1.692182e+00 -8.449367e-01

65 -0.13434808 -1.621229e-01 -1.213801e+00

66 1.92708179 -6.004984e-03 -7.734642e-01

The method plot() was further used to return a dot-chart of the Z-Scores as represented in

Figure 9 where the comparison among the Z-Scores of all factors is explored. The further the

Factor-indicating points are, the more distinctive is the opinion regarding a statement. The

more clustered the points, the more consensus exists in opinions regarding a statement.

47

Figure 9: Visualization of results with plot() method. The statements are ordered by the standard deviation of Z-Scores of all 3 factors

state

men

t

7 55 66 61 56 32 13 39 37 11 45 47 34 12

6 17

9 35 22

5 8

51 10 20 30 54 15 36 18 63 46

3 57 26 27 65 59 41 60 58 24

4 21 64

3 28 23 44 40 53 49 25

1 16 33 19 52 38 14 29 62

2 42 50 43 48

48

Therefore, as represented in Figure 9, the respondents vary the most in their opinions on the

following three statements concerning coaching:

Statement 7: Created a feeling of discrimination in those who were not accepted in the

Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program).

Statement 55: Widened my professional network.

Statement 66: Empowered me.

The fully colored dots of the dot-chart in Figure 9 represent the factors differences of the

strongest statistical significance.

The statistical significance of differences (based on the standard error of differences) between

factor Z-Scores was tested as represented in Table 8 using the “Distinguishing and consensus

statements” function (...$qdc) (Zabala, 2014). The function compares the Z-Scores between all

pairs of factors obtained. It calculates the absolute difference in Z-Scores. Thereafter, it

compares the obtained difference with the significance thresholds for .05 and .01 p-value levels.

The categorical variable named “dist.and.cons” indicates if the statement is of consensus or

distinguishing for one or more factors (Zabala, 2014). “A statement can fall in the "dist.and.cons"

variable as follows:

• “Distinguishes all”: When all the differences between all pairs of factors are significant.

• “Distinguishes fi only”: When the differences between factor i and all other factors are

significant, and the differences between all other pairs of factors are not.

• “Distinguishes fi (...)”: When the differences between factor i and all other factors are

significant, and some (but not all) of the differences between other pairs of factors are

significant. If this is the case for more than one factor, the string is concatenated, e. g.,

“Distinguishes f1 Distinguishes f3”. This category may arise only in solutions of four or

more factors.

• “Consensus”: When none of the differences are significant because all factors give the

statement a similar score.

• "": Leaves an empty string in the cell of those statements which do not fulfil any of the

49

above conditions, i.e., statements that are neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing any

factor from all the rest. But while they do not distinguish any particular factor from all

the rest, they do distinguish some pairs of factors. The role of these statements may be

inspected in detail by looking at the significance columns” (Zabala, 2014, pp. 167–168).

Table 8: Absolute difference in Z-Scores

No Distinguish/Consensus F1-F2 Significance

F1-F2

F1-F3 Significance

F1-F3

F2-F3 Significance

F2-F3

1 Consensus 0.400704350 -0.26637036 -0.66707471

2 Consensus -0.169322723 -0.41160254 -0.24227982

3 Distinguishes F1 only -0.982336673 ** -1.18729193 ** -0.20495526

4 Distinguishes F3 only -0.175299798 -1.01793453 ** -0.84263473 *

5 Distinguishes all 0.689995690 * -0.96881127 * -1.65880696 **

6 Distinguishes F3 only 0.461796813 -1.31188625 ** -1.77368307 **


8 Distinguishes F1 only 1.494413384 ** 1.29269239 ** -0.20172100

9 Distinguishes F2 only 1.277416360 ** -0.41387456 -1.69129092 **

10 Distinguishes F2 only 1.168933190 ** -0.28626260 -1.45519579 **

11 Distinguishes F3 only -0.333999608 1.67495937 ** 2.00895897 **



14 Consensus 0.380150639 -0.10139441 -0.48154505


16 Consensus -0.369607205 -0.64594939 -0.27634219


18 -1.327919180 ** -0.60601457 0.72190461

19 Consensus 0.245055806 -0.33480831 -0.57986411

20 Distinguishes F1 only -1.310473975 ** -1.28485049 ** 0.02562349

21 -0.436640186 -1.05574546 ** -0.61910527

22 Distinguishes all -0.882028847 ** -1.69884601 ** -0.81681716 *

23 -0.397562465 0.56063682 0.95819928 *

24 Distinguishes F2 only -0.734052581 * 0.33189706 1.06594964 **

25 Consensus -0.243196995 -0.72201245 -0.47881545

26 Distinguishes F3 only -0.008940040 -1.09177651 ** -1.08283647 **


28 -0.322512472 -0.97951876 * -0.65700629

50

29 Consensus -0.467202378 -0.19315551 0.27404687


31 -1.036093303 ** -0.64908902 0.38700429

32 Distinguishes all -1.039619801 ** 1.35437103 ** 2.39399083 **

33 Consensus -0.580933772 -0.09262793 0.48830584

34 Distinguishes F3 only 0.293195041 1.82184031 ** 1.52864527 **



37 Distinguishes F2 only -1.626622353 ** 0.43635393 2.06297628 **

38 Consensus 0.145292884 0.49908580 0.35379291

39 Distinguishes all -1.131835338 ** 1.05159827 ** 2.18343361 **

40 0.496876112 0.90550434 * 0.40862822

41 Distinguishes F3 only 0.128782038 -0.94275181 * -1.07153385 **

42 Consensus 0.009616474 -0.29515861 -0.30477509

43 Consensus 0.098404832 -0.13511045 -0.23351528

44 -0.176761010 -0.90709310 * -0.73033209


46 Distinguishes F3 only -0.104598899 -1.18399248 ** -1.07939359 **

47 Distinguishes all 2.027353031 ** 1.02374315 ** -1.00360988 *

48 Consensus 0.123012952 0.03783810 -0.08517486

49 Consensus -0.516754089 -0.71164279 -0.19488870

50 Consensus 0.301563656 0.13220933 -0.16935433

51 Distinguishes F2 only -1.298373540 ** 0.07574748 1.37412102 **

52 Consensus 0.438825725 0.45384459 0.01501887

53 0.277868068 0.87090277 * 0.59303470

54 Distinguishes all 0.647626341 * 1.48245352 ** 0.83482718 *

55 Distinguishes all 0.961096872 ** 3.06315379 ** 2.10205692 **

56 Distinguishes all 1.551480132 ** 2.41235927 ** 0.86087913 *

57 Distinguishes F1 only 1.144768875 ** 1.03618276 ** -0.10858612

58 Distinguishes F3 only 0.016316803 0.97157915 * 0.95526235 *

59 Distinguishes F3 only -0.275907689 0.85165250 * 1.12756019 **

60 Distinguishes F1 only 0.774681878 * 1.11264124 ** 0.33795936

61 Distinguishes all 0.665024648 * 2.48912437 ** 1.82409972 **

62 Consensus -0.065992810 -0.39053039 -0.32453758


64 Distinguishes F2 only 0.969970647 ** 0.12272511 -0.84724554 *

65 Distinguishes F3 only 0.027774869 1.07945257 ** 1.05167770 *

66 Distinguishes F1 only 1.933086774 ** 2.70054597 ** 0.76745919

51

4.2. Results Interpretation

4.2.1. Factor 1 – Personal growth is the key

Factor 1 has an Eignenvalue of 3.9 and explains 28% of the study variance. The reliability of

Factor 1 is 0.96. 6 participants are significantly associated with this factor, including four

managers and 2 direct reports, 3 women and 3 men. The average work experience at Chevron of

participants included in Factor 1 is 11,8 years, ranging from 3 to 25 years.

As represented in Table 9, Factor 1 individuals highly appreciate the empowering dimension

of SLP. They consider that the coaching intervention increased their assertiveness. Further

findings confirm the conclusion of Wilk and Coplan (1977) as Factor 1 individuals agree that the

coaching training increased their self-confidence. According to Wilk and Coplan (1977)

“assertiveness is extremely helpful as confidence builder” (1977, p. 464). Factor 1 individuals

consider that the coaching training increased their awareness of lack of control over

behaviors and thoughts of others. One of the concourse participants declared: “I can’t force

people to do stuff but I can influence them, I can show them the risks, I can show them the

process. Having done all of that and they still insist, there is nothing much I can do”. This being

said, the individuals represented by Factor 1 are neutral concerning the increase of work-

related satisfaction as result of coaching training.

Factor 1 individuals do not support the view on perceived link between SLP participation

and work-related promotion. In other words, they disagree that SLP created a perception

that those who are accepted in the program are being earmarked for promotion.

Factor 1 individuals disagree that the coaching program lacked hands-on (practical)

dimension and that the coaching program created a sensation of alienation in those who

graduated the program. The latter conforms to the lack of support for the statement that SLP

created a specific “language” used by Sunrise Leadership Program graduates only.

52

Factor 1 individuals share a positive perception on SLP. They consider that SLP helped them

develop assertiveness and build self-awareness. Likewise, they support the view that SLP taught

them to take distance towards behaviors and thoughts of other people. It seems that Factor 1

individuals perceive personal growth as main outcome of SLP. They remain neutral as for the

link of such personal growth with work-related satisfaction.

Individuals represented by Factor 1 perceive SLP as well balanced between theory and practice.

They consider that participating in the program had no negative influence on the work

environment, be it by alienation of SLP participants and graduates or biased views of other

colleagues on work-promotion-related matters.

Table 9: Statements distinguishing Factor 1

4.2.2. Factor 2 – Creativity and open mind at work


Factor 2 is 0.96. 4 participants are significantly associated with this factor, including 2 managers

and 2 direct reports, 2 women and 2 men. The average work experience at Chevron of

participants included in Factor 2 is 7,7 years, ranging from 6 to 9 years.

No Statement Z-Score F1

3 Increased my awareness of lack of control over

behaviors and thoughts of others.

0.28433010

8 Created a perception that those who are accepted in

the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program)

are being earmarked for promotion.

-0.25423597

12 Created a specific “language” used by Sunrise

Leadership Program (coaching program) graduates

only.

-0.91358025

17 Created a sensation of alienation in those who

graduated the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching

program).

-2.18386294

20 Lacked hands-on (practical) dimension. -1.68945070

27 Increased my self-confidence. 0.92440002

57 Increased my assertiveness. 1.73434062

60 Increased work-related satisfaction within the

company.

0.04561942

66 Empowered me. 1.92708179

53

As represented in Table 10, Factor 2 individuals strongly agree that the coaching program

generated creative solutions-friendly work environment. The individuals represented by

Factor 2 consider that the coaching training increased their understanding of others and

enabled them to better understand where their interlocutors (partners of conversations)

come from. They do not experience a feeling of frustration when dealing with colleagues

who do not have the same level of understanding. In other words, Factor 2 individuals would

likely disagree with one of the focus groups participants who argued: “…I was frustrated because

I would learn all these wonderful tools and I would get de-motivated coming back into the work

environment because nobody was on the same wave length as me…”.

Factor 2 individuals consider that SLP has been preceded by sufficient professional

environment analysis and personality analysis of candidates for the program.

Individuals represented by Factor 2, clearly perceive the positive impact of SLP on work

environment, in particular in the field of creativity. The better understanding of others following

SLP also plays a constructive role in the professional environment as perceived by Factor 2

represented individuals. As declared during the concourse by one of the participants: “…I can

engage with people differently and understand where they are coming from and that

understanding where you are (…) makes a big difference in your ability to work with others…”.

This openness towards others possibly helps Factor 2 individuals not to feel frustrated when

dealing with colleagues who do not have the same level of understanding.

Finally, individuals included in Factor 2 support the selection procedure as it stands for the

candidates to SLP.



9 Has not been preceded by sufficient personality

analysis of candidates for the Sunrise Leadership

Program (coaching program).

-1.175648e+00

10 Has not been preceded by sufficient professional

environment analysis of candidates for the Sunrise

Leadership Program (coaching program).

-1.086332e+00

24 Increased my understanding of others. 1.323771e+00

37 Enabled me to better understand where my

interlocutors come from.

1.329082e+00

54

51 Generated creative solutions-friendly work

environment.

6.006568e-01

64 Generated frustration when dealing with colleagues

who do not have the same level of understanding.

-1.692182e+00

4.2.3. Factor 3 – Moderate criticism


Factor 3 is 0.89. 2 participants are significantly associated with this factor, both managers, both

man. The average work experience at Chevron of participants included in Factor 3 is 18 years,

ranging from 12 to 24 years.

As represented in Table 11, Factor 3 individuals strongly agree that SLP contributed to

decreasing the presence and the level of micromanagement within the company. The letter

can be linked to the increased level of trust within the company perceived by Factor 3

individuals following SLP. What’s more, according to individuals represented by Factor 3, SLP

enhanced direct conversations within the company. Thanks to SLP, Factor 3 individuals

better understand the way human mind works. One of the participants of focus groups

declared: “…what I understand is basically the way the human mind works so I think from a

coaching perspective you just tapping into those principles in applying to the workplace…”.

They also consider that SLP might have influenced the ability to deal with clients/customers

within the company.

This being said, individuals represented by Factor 3 do not consider that the impact of SLP goes

as far as to influence change acceptance within Chevron. As numerous researchers (Gardini,

Giuliani, & Marricchi, 2011; Kotter, 2012; LaClair & Rao, 2002; Umble & Umble, 2014) have

shown, the resistance to change is usually strong in organizations. Umble and Umble (2014)

argue that “complex implementations and change initiatives in organizations generally

experience a high failure rate. This is because significant change always creates some level of

uncertainty, uncertainty can lead to fear, and fear can generate significant resistance to the

proposed change” (2014, p. 17). It might be that to influence change acceptance within the

company, Chevron needs to go further beyond SLP.

55

Factor 3 do not experience frustration when management is not encouraging/supporting

skills learned during the program. Likewise, Factor 3 individuals strongly disagree that the

coaching program made conversations more challenging when dealing with higher level

colleagues.

Interestingly, individuals represented by Factor 3 do not subscribe to the statement that SLP

improved work relationships within the company. Might it be that following SLP the

conversations became too direct or the fact that Factor 3 participants do not consider that SLP

taught them that not every interaction needs to be reactionary? At the same time, individuals

represented by Factor 3 strongly disagree that SLP helped them plan/prepare (re-)actions.

SLP did not improve the level of accountability within the company according to Factor 3

individuals. Similarly, participants consider that the program did not lower work-related

frustration within the company.

On a personal level, Factor 3 individuals do not consider that the coaching program helped

them in their personal life.

Individuals represented by Factor 3 also consider that SLP did not create permanent learning

outcomes and that it created a feeling of discrimination in those who were not accepted in

the program.

This being said, individuals represented by Factor 3 do not go as far as to consider that SLP

did not create a Return on Investment.

The perception of SLP by Factor 3 individuals is dichotomous. On the one hand, participants

consider that SLP had positive influence on work-environment by lowering the level of

micromanagement, increasing the level of trust and enhancing direct conversations within the

company. On the other hand, individuals included in Factor 3 do not perceive improvements in

the fields of work engagement, work-related accountability and work relations following SLP.

Similarly, they do not see the influence of SLP on their personal life.

56

Factor 3 individuals perceive certain negative aspect of SLP organization, e.g. lack of permanent

outcomes or the feeling of discrimination in those who were not accepted in the program.

This being said, Factor 3 individuals are ready to accept that SLP might have created a Return on

Investment.



4 Enhanced direct conversations within the company. 1.289107e+00

6 Helped me understand the way human mind works. 1.067022e+00

7 Created a feeling of discrimination in those who were

not accepted in the Sunrise Leadership Program

(coaching program).

1.987265e+00

11 Generated frustration when management was not

encouraging/supporting skills learned during the

Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program).

-2.427601e+00

13 Did not create permanent learning outcomes. 2.220851e-01

15 Did not create a Return on Investment. -7.377279e-01

26 Did not influence change acceptance within the

company.

4.762399e-18

30 Did not influence the ability to deal with

clients/customers within the company.

-1.825151e-01

34 Helped me plan/prepare (re-)actions. -5.871153e-01

35 Taught me that not every interaction needs to be

reactionary.

-2.220851e-01

36 Helped me in my personal life. -2.935576e-01

41 Made conversations more challenging when dealing

with higher level colleagues.

-6.624216e-01

45 Decreased the presence and the level of

micromanagement within the company.

8.845067e-01

46 Increased the level of trust within the company. 6.266854e-01

58 Increased the level of accountability within the

company.

-1.178064e+00

59 Lowered work-related frustration within the

company.

-1.582665e+00

63 Improved work relationships within the company. -1.213801e+00

65 Improved work engagement within the company. -1.213801e+00

57

4.2.4. Consensus for Factor 1, Factor 2 and Factor 3 – Life-long

personal and professional growth

According to the statistical significance of differences (based on the standard error of

differences) between factor Z-Scores (Table 8), in case of the following statements none of the

differences between factors are statistically significant.

As shown in Table 12, Individuals represented by Factor 1, 2 and 3 agree that SLP increased

their self-awareness, self-control and their listening capacity. Similarly, they agree that SLP

helped them identify their strengths and weaknesses and taught them to “let go”. As one

stated by one of focus groups participants: “…If [you] are not ready, then (…) you [are] not

ready and I get that, let it go, and maybe at a later point you can be ready. (…) I just realized

actually this person isn’t ready to go and engage and foster a better relationship with another

colleague… you know, just let it go, it will come back at a later point…”. Likewise, all 3 Factors

individuals agree that SLP helped them develop their emotional intelligence and manage

conflict. Factor 1, 2, 3 individuals agree that SLP made it easier to acknowledge colleagues’

and improved their overall performance and engagement at work and it enhanced their

capacity to influence others.

Furthermore, individuals represented by Factor 1 and Factor 2 agree that SLP increased their

level of empathy.

Factor 1 and Factor 3 agree that the coaching program, taught them how to empower

people/colleagues.

Interestingly, Factors 2 and 3 individuals disagree that the coaching program improved

communication within the company.

Finally, individuals represented by Factor 1, 2 and 3 agree that the coaching program

requires refreshing sessions every now and then.

Briefly, individuals represented by all 3 factors perceive the positive influence of SLP on self-

awareness, listening capacity, emotional intelligence, work performance, and capacity to

58

influence others. The increased level of empathy as result of SLP is appreciated by Factor 1 and

2 individuals and the capacity to empower people/colleagues by Factors 1 and 3.

Surprisingly, regardless of all positive influence of SLP, Factors 2 and 3 individuals perceive it

had no influence on improving communication within the company.

This being said, all 3 factors individuals support refreshing sessions to SLP after completion of

the program.

Table 12: Consensus statements

No Statement Z-Score F1 Z-Score F2 Z-Score F3

1 Increased my self-awareness. 1.75663071 1.355926e+00 2.023001e+00

2 Increased my self-control. 0.50864046 6.779632e-01 9.202430e-01

14 Requires refreshing sessions every now and

then.

0.52145713 1.413065e-01 6.228515e-01

16 Improved my listening capacity. 0.86140889 1.231016e+00 1.507358e+00

19 Helped my career development. -0.03741685 -2.824727e-01 2.973915e-01

25 Did not influence my engagement at work. -1.67799170 -1.434795e+00 -9.559793e-01

29 Increased my capacity to influence others. 0.13613839 6.033408e-01 3.292939e-01

33 Helped me identify my strengths and

weaknesses.

0.78804500 1.368979e+00 8.806729e-01

38 Increased my level of empathy. 0.38804323 2.427503e-01 -1.110426e-01

42 Taught me to “let go”. 0.10944160 9.982513e-02 4.046002e-01

43 Helped me develop my emotional intelligence. 0.67408998 5.756851e-01 8.092004e-01

48 Made it easier to acknowledge colleagues’

work.

0.18461692 6.160397e-02 1.467788e-01

49 Improved my overall performance. 0.39111528 9.078694e-01 1.102758e+00

50 Taught me how to empower people/colleagues. 0.27898815 -2.257551e-02 1.467788e-01

52 Taught me to manage conflict. 1.04479370 6.059680e-01 5.909491e-01

62 Improved communication within the company. -0.46200290 -3.960101e-01 -7.147250e-02

4.2.5. Statements distinguishing all 3 factors – different perceptions


differences) between factor Z-Scores (Table 8), in case of the following statements all the

differences between all pairs of factors are significant.

59

As represented in Table 13, Factor 1 individuals agree that SLP enforced their self-reflection

and taught them to give, seek (ask for opinion) and accept constructive feedback. Thanks to

SLP, they are more apt to identify the right person to put request to. Factor 1 individuals,

consider that SLP widened their professional network. They disagree that SLP increased

arrogance within the company.

Factor 2 individuals agree that SLP taught them to give, seek (ask for opinion) and accept

constructive feedback. This being said, they do not consider that SLP increased their

capability to identify the right person to put request to. They also consider that SLP did not

widen their professional network. The latter might be linked to the fact that Factor 2

individuals disagree that SLP taught them how not to bring emotions into professional

matters. This being said, Factor 2 individuals disagree that SLP increased arrogance within

the company. Finally, individuals represented by Factor 2 strongly agree that SLP enforced

their self-reflection and helped them manage private-life conversations.

Individuals represented by Factor 3 strongly disagree that SLP taught them to give, seek (ask

for opinion) and accept constructive feedback. This perception might be linked to the fact that,

according to their viewpoint, SLP did not increase their capability to identify the right

person to put requests to. Likewise, Factor 3 individuals do not agree that SLP taught them

how not to bring emotions into professional matters. The overall consequence might be the

strong disagreement of Factor 3 individuals that SLP widened their professional network.

This being said, Factor 3 individuals disagree that SLP increased arrogance within the

company. On a more personal level, individuals represented by Factor 3 disagree that SLP

enforced their self-reflection and that it helped them manage private-life conversations.

In brief, all 3 factors individuals have different perception on SLP’s influence on giving, seeking

and accepting constructive feedback. In fact, only Factor 1 individuals think SLP taught them to

identify the right person to put request to. According to participants, bearing in mind statistically

significant differences in agreement, SLP did not teach them how not to bring emotions into

professional matters. Only Factor 1 individuals consider that SLP widened their professional

network. Factors differ on the perception of influence of SLP on self-reflection and SLP’s

60

positive influence on managing private-life conversations. Bearing in mind statistically

significant differences, none of the factors believe that SLP increased arrogance within the

company.

Table 13: Statements distinguishing all 3 factors


22 Increased arrogance within

the company.

-2.21448879 -1.332460e+00 -5.156428e-01

32 Helped me manage

private-life conversations.

0.76725574 1.806876e+00 -5.871153e-01

39 Taught me how NOT to

bring emotions into

professional matters.

0.24239784 1.374233e+00 -8.092004e-01

47 Increased my capability to

identify the right person to

put request to.

0.87696433 -1.150389e+00 -1.467788e-01

54 Widened my professional

network.

0.63368302 -1.394332e-02 -8.487705e-01

55 Enforced my self-

reflection.

1.48048918 5.193923e-01 -1.582665e+00

56 Taught me to give, seek

and accept constructive

feedback.

1.67463134 1.231512e-01 -7.377279e-01

61 Made me ask for opinion

(consult) more often.

0.72394469 5.892004e-02 -1.765180e+00

4.2.6. Statements that are neither consensus nor clearly

distinguishing


differences) between factor Z-Scores, the following statements represented in Table 14 do not

fulfil any of the above conditions, i.e., they are neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing any

factor from all the rest. Using the below statements to interpret the factors might be misleading

as they do not characterize and are not ‘shared’ by any of the factors involved (Zabala, 2014).

Consequently, the statements that are neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing will be

addressed in the Points for Improvement section of the present research.

61

Table 14: Neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing statements


18 Is elitist. -2.00233029 -6.744111e-01 -1.396316e+00

21 Increased work productivity within the

company.

-0.28228128 1.543589e-01 7.734642e-01

23 Taught me courageous conversations. 0.96523703 1.362799e+00 4.046002e-01

28 Helped me introduce change within the

company.

-0.68596111 -3.634486e-01 2.935576e-01

31 Helped me better identify opportunities-

oriented conversations.

0.19584766 1.231941e+00 8.449367e-01

40 Made conversations easier when dealing

with same or sub-ordinate level

colleagues.

0.64768294 1.508068e-01 -2.578214e-01

44 Lowered my anxiety level. -0.09789267 7.886834e-02 8.092004e-01

53 Positively influenced my ability to deal

with clients/customers.

0.31952373 4.165566e-02 -5.513790e-01

4.3. Research Limitations

First and foremost, the present research was realized under an important time constraint linked to

the characteristics of the Master of Business Administration program. Consequently, the

researcher was able to explore the matters related to this research only to a certain extent.

Secondly, as the present research was heavily dependent on the availability of Chevron

employees, it was impossible to guarantee a larger sample of participants and assure the perfect

balance between direct report and managers.

Thirdly, the limitations of the research methodology used in the framework of the present

research limit the scope of the results to the impact of coaching on leadership development at

Chevron as “Q methodology does not seek to make claims to larger representative groups”

(Brown, 2004, p. 4). Consequently, it is impossible to extrapolate the results of the present

research over any other population.

The present exploratory research is aimed at exclusively exploring the impact of Integral

Coaching at Chevron as perceived by company’s managers and direct reports.

62

4.4. Research Points for Improvement

As show in the statistical analysis above, 8 statements extracted on the basis of the concourse

turned out to be irrelevant as they are neither consensus nor clearly distinguishing any factor

from all the rest. In other words, the concourse that served statement extraction in this research

might have been improved.

5. Research Conclusions

The purpose of the present research was to gain a better understanding of the impact of Integral

Coaching on leadership development at Chevron as perceived by Company’s managers and

direct reports. The Q methodology was used to identify existing views, beliefs and opinions on

the subject. The three factors resulting from the statistical analysis of results represent the

viewpoints co-occurring within the participant group. They illustrate the diversity and the

similarities of perspectives on the impact of Integral Coaching on leadership development at

Chevron. The result of the research might serve Chevron and CfC as “an objective to build a

business case for the program by pointing to actual results seen and witnessed by graduates”14.

Even though, the individuals who took part in the research perceive the impact of Integral

Coaching on leadership development at Chevron differently, they globally agree that SLP had

positive influence on their personal and professional development. It is important to mention that

both personal and professional spheres are to a certain extent inter-linked in case of coaching

interventions. In other words, the outcomes of Integral Coaching like assertiveness, self-

awareness, emotional intelligence, openness towards others, trust or empathy are perfectly

applicable in both personal and professional contexts. They shall also be perceived as enablers if

one desires to contribute to the culture of fairness and justness in their teams and organizations as

argued by Chamorro-Premuzic (2016).

14 Email communication from the Director of the CfC, Janine Everson.

63

This being said, the research shows certain differences in perceptions of individuals on the

impact of Integral Coaching in the professional environment. Some individuals perceive positive

influence of SLP on work-related creativity and as countermeasure to micromanagement. Others,

do not see improvements in the fields of work engagement and work-related accountability

linked to SLP.

According to the research results, reinforcing certain dimensions of SLP might be worth

considering, e.g. putting more accent on improving communication within the company or

helping participants not to bring emotions into professional matters.

Even though perception of discrimination as outcome of SLP selection procedure occurred only

in the case of one of 3 factors, addressing this aspect of SLP selection seems of utmost

importance.

Finally, participants of SLP are in favour of a possibility of refreshers of the skills learned in the

program. As one of participants testified: “It would help a lot [to get a] refresher, you get a lot at

a time [during the program] and then [you] just don’t want to lose it…”.

6. Future Research Directions

Although, due to the characteristics of the used methodology, the outcome of this research

cannot be extrapolated over a larger population, it sheds light on the existence of the subjective

points of view on the impact of Integral Coaching. The results of the present research might open

possibilities for hypothesis formulations and further research on the subject. Broadening of

academic knowledge on the impact of Integral Coaching is particularly relevant as so far the

coaching practice produces little of comparative and outcome-linked data.

64

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68

Annex 1 – Q Set of Statements on SLP

No Statement

1 Increased my self-awareness.

2 Increased my self-control.

3 Increased my awareness of lack of control over behaviors and thoughts of others.

4 Enhanced direct conversations within the company.

5 Had a positive impact on my leadership style.

6 Helped me understand the way human mind works.

7 Created a feeling of discrimination in those who were not accepted in the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching

program).

8 Created a perception that those who are accepted in the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program) are being

earmarked for promotion.

9 Has not been preceded by sufficient personality analysis of candidates for the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching

program).

10 Has not been preceded by sufficient professional environment analysis of candidates for the Sunrise Leadership


11 Generated frustration when management was not encouraging/supporting skills learned during the Sunrise Leadership


12 Created a specific “language” used by Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program) graduates only.

13 Did not create permanent learning outcomes.

14 Requires refreshing sessions every now and then.

15 Did not create a Return on Investment.

16 Improved my listening capacity.

17 Created a sensation of alienation in those who graduated the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program).

18 Is elitist.

19 Helped my career development.

20 Lacked hands-on (practical) dimension.

21 Increased work productivity within the company.

22 Increased arrogance within the company.

23 Taught me courageous conversations.

24 Increased my understanding of others.

25 Did not influence my engagement at work.

26 Did not influence change acceptance within the company.

27 Increased my self-confidence.

28 Helped me introduce change within the company.

69

29 Increased my capacity to influence others.

30 Did not influence the ability to deal with clients/customers within the company.

31 Helped me better identify opportunities-oriented conversations.

32 Helped me manage private-life conversations.

33 Helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses.

34 Helped me plan/prepare (re-)actions.

35 Taught me that not every interaction needs to be reactionary.

36 Helped me in my personal life.

37 Enabled me to better understand where my interlocutors come from.

38 Increased my level of empathy.

39 Taught me how NOT to bring emotions into professional matters.

40 Made conversations easier when dealing with same or sub-ordinate level colleagues.

41 Made conversations more challenging when dealing with higher level colleagues.

42 Taught me to “let go”.

43 Helped me develop my emotional intelligence.

44 Lowered my anxiety level.

45 Decreased the presence and the level of micromanagement within the company.

46 Increased the level of trust within the company.

47 Increased my capability to identify the right person to put request to.

48 Made it easier to acknowledge colleagues’ work.

49 Improved my overall performance.

50 Taught me how to empower people/colleagues.

51 Generated creative solutions-friendly work environment.

52 Taught me to manage conflict.

53 Positively influenced my ability to deal with clients/customers.

54 Widened my professional network.

55 Enforced my self-reflection.

56 Taught me to give, seek and accept constructive feedback.

57 Increased my assertiveness.

58 Increased the level of accountability within the company.

59 Lowered work-related frustration within the company.

60 Increased work-related satisfaction within the company.

61 Made me ask for opinion (consult) more often.

62 Improved communication within the company.

63 Improved work relationships within the company.

64 Generated frustration when dealing with colleagues who do not have the same level of understanding.

65 Improved work engagement within the company.

66 Empowered me.

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Annex 2 – Instructions for Q Set Participants

1. Please read each of the following statements, one at a time, and move them (drag-and-

drop) into three categories: AGREE, DISAGREE, UNSURE. All the statements relate to

the Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program). It may facilitate your task to

mentally place "Sunrise Leadership Program (coaching program)" in front of each

statement. In case you feel indifferent towards a statement or a statement leaves you with

mixed feelings, please place it in the UNSURE category. There are no limits to the

number of statements that can be placed in any of these three categories. Just be faithful

to your own feelings and view point. The order in which statements appear in a particular

column or under a particular ranking value is irrelevant. In other words, do not try and

order your columns. Once you have finished sorting the statements, please feel free to

make any final adjustments you wish to make.

2. Now your task is to allocate every one of these statements a ranking position within the

sorting distribution provided, based on your agreement/disagreement with its content.

The more you agree with a statement, the higher the ranking you are likely to award it.

The more you disagree, the lower the ranking. Please allocate each of the statements a

ranking position on the scale ranging from MOST DISAGREEMENT on the left-hand

end of the distribution provided to MOST AGREEMENT on the right-hand end of the

distribution provided. Please note that in this part of the questionnaire the number of

statements per ranking is limited, meaning that only two statements can be given a

ranking of -6 or +6, three can be given a ranking of -5 or +5, four can be given a ranking

of -4 or +4, and so on. The number of statements accepted per ranking position is

indicated in brackets on the top of each ranking position column. You may find it

difficult to decide immediately which two statements should be ranked at -6 or +6. If you

do, a possible strategy is to read each statement again and to place the ones that generate

the strongest feelings of disagreement towards the left of the scale and those that generate

the strongest feelings of agreement towards the right of the scale. You can move the

statements between the ranking position at any time. The software will let you know in

case you place too many statements per ranking position. Do not get hung up on the

71

ranking of a specific statement. For example, if you find three statements (instead of two)

you would like to rank at +6, do not pass long minutes to decide which one to relegate to

+5. The research project is designed to get a general sense of your likes and dislikes. Do

not worry if your AGREE statements cross over into the negative rankings. As the

ranking system of the research project is relative, it will not be assumed that you disagree

with or thoroughly dislike a statement. When you allocate a -2 ranking, therefore, this

indicates only that you probably agree with that statement slightly less than the

statements you ranked at -1, and slightly more than those you are about to rank at -3. The

order in which statements appear in a particular column or under a particular ranking

value is irrelevant. In other words, do not try and order your columns. Once you have

finished sorting the statements, please feel free to make any final adjustments you wish to

make.

72

Annex 3 – Factor Extraction Options, 7-4 Factors


Average

reliability

coefficient

Number of

loading Q-

sorts


of

explained

variance


error of

factor

scores

(SE)

Factor 1 0.8 2 2.9 20.5 0.89 0.33

Factor 2 0.8 1 2.0 14.0 0.80 0.45

Factor 3 0.8 1 1.8 13.0 0.80 0.45

Factor 4 0.8 1 1.7 12.3 0.80 0.45

Factor 5 0.8 1 1.4 10.0 0.80 0.45

Factor 6 0.8 1 1.2 8.7 0.80 0.45

Factor 7 0.8 1 1.1 7.5 0.80 0.45

Total: 8 Total: 86

The option of extracting 7 factors includes 8 Q sorts, however 6 out of 7 factors include only 1 Q

sort.


Average

reliability

coefficient

Number of

loading Q-sorts


of

explained

variance


error of

factor

scores

(SE)

Factor 1 0.8 4 3.5 25.3 0.94 0.24

Factor 2 0.8 2 2.4 17.1 0.89 0.33

Factor 3 0.8 1 1.6 11.5 0.80 0.45

Factor 4 0.8 1 1.4 9.7 0.80 0.45

Factor 5 0.8 1 1.4 9.7 0.80 0.45

Factor 6 0.8 1 1.2 8.7 0.80 0.45

Total: 10 Total: 82

The option of extracting 6 factors includes 10 Q sorts, however 4 out of 6 factors include only 1

Q sort.

73


Average

reliability

coefficient

Number of

loading Q-sorts


of

explained

variance


error of

factor

scores

(SE)

Factor 1 0.8 3 3.6 25.7 0.92 0.28

Factor 2 0.8 3 2.6 18.6 0.92 0.28

Factor 3 0.8 1 1.9 13.3 0.80 0.45

Factor 4 0.8 1 1.6 11.2 0.80 0.45

Factor 5 0.8 1 1.3 8.9 0.80 0.45

Total: 9 Total: 77.7


sort.


Average

reliability

coefficient

Number of

loading Q-sorts


of

explained

variance


error of

factor

scores

(SE)

Factor 1 0.8 5 4.0 29 0.95 0.22

Factor 2 0.8 2 2.3 16 0.89 0.33

Factor 3 0.8 1 2.0 15 0.80 0.45

Factor 4 0.8 1 1.9 13 0.80 0.45

Total: 9 Total: 73


sort.

74

Annex 4 – Transcripts of Focus Groups

FOCUS GROUP 1

INTERVIEWER: It’s the 25th October. It’s 10h08. This is the first focus group at Chevron.

Guys, can I ask you first before we go to precise questions what your impression was about

Sunrise Leadership Program? what has it changed for you and how has it influenced your work

actually?

PARTICIPANT: Mine I think I was about four years ago… three four years ago. I guess

and you probably have very similar feedback from the others, for me it was just the awareness

that gets created around your behavior and how you respond and react in scenario, so that…

especially at the time when I went through the program big alerts for me through the coaching as

well, it’s just where I am because I can control myself and it’s a little bit less that you can control

others so for me the big part of that was the self awareness.

PARTICIPANT: I think that is probably that would underpin everything as the [unclear

0:01:19] identity and understanding yourself sense of awareness, and the ability to reflect others

behaviors of you by keeping your understanding yourself… I think that is the intention of the

coaching plan or the coaching program and for me certainly on a few occasions I saw the

opportunity to try and use it. So I think yes the sense of awareness is probably the most

important.

PARTICIPANT: For me I think probably what everybody has said so far, I was one of the

first members to attend so I think at that stage I’m sure maybe the [unclear 0:02:07] or the

presentation style may have changed since we have gone through the process but I found it

particularly useful and at the time because I was a new supervisor so it was an interesting tool to

have at my disposal. I seem to think that I used some of the modules more frequent than the

others and the one is probably just to mention I mean the direct conversations you have with

your team and the one that makes reference to the [unclear 0:02:33] when finding out where

particularly this person is on the scale in terms of… So, yes I personally think it has made a

positive impact on my leadership style to a certain degree.

INTERVIEWER: I understand [unclear 0:02:55] I will paraphrase, you understand that you

do have an influence on your own behaviors and perceptions more than the influence on the

behaviors of others is that correct?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, that goes for me.

INTERVIEWER: I just wanted to be sure.

PARTICIPANT: Outside of coaching from what I understand is basically the way the

human mind works so I think from a coaching perspective you just tapping into those principles

in applying to the workplace so in order for you to know others you have to know yourself so

that is in my opinion what the coaching program tends to do is to raise awareness of yourself that

you can better manage others not by trying to change them, but by trying to change the way to

interact with them.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me a little bit about the collaborative work environment has

there been any change, if so, what kind of changes has it influenced the team spirit or group

cohesion interactions with people?

PARTICIPANT: Okay, I think for the attendees that are fortunate enough to go, there has

been a positive spin off my opinion. For what I have seen is for some of the members that are not

maybe selected to go it is almost like creating some wedge in between favorable ones and the not

75

so favorable ones so in certain groups I have picked up that it is almost like marginalization that

that person gets, and we know that’s how the selection of the pack works right at the end of the

day, you get selected, you don’t get selected. But, I have picked it up in some of the discussion

groups that after you have been on Sunrise… so some people feel that they see the value and the

advantage of going on there, but the fact that it is not available to a much bigger group but a

larger scale makes a bit of a [unclear 0:05:08]

INTERVIEWER: Okay, so is it perceived a little bit like discrimination? Those who are

being discriminated against would have a prejudice against the program itself during the [unclear

0:05:28]

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: So do you think this might have influenced a team spirit, team cohesion or

collaborative work? This kind of discrepancy between people who are accepted and who were

not accepted which would be an outside factor of the coaching itself?

PARTICIPANT: I think it is not the large scale but I can only speak for our team and it

sometimes comes up in a conversation and then you get the feeling okay fine so this person has

probably got some reservations while he or she was not…

INTERVIEWER: I understand.

PARTICIPANT: On the program and there is also the perception that when people go on

the program they either being earmarked for climbing a corporate ladder and if you not donated

onto the program and that creates a bit of…

INTERVIEWER: Can I just ask if it is confirmed in practice? Is that so that indeed those

who are accepted were going to climb the ladder? Or is it just a kind of perception but which is

not necessarily confirmed in the practice in daily life of the company?

PARTICIPANT: Well that is on one end of the spectrum and on the other hand of the

spectrum I think that my key [unclear 0:06:51] work environment couldn’t care less it doesn’t

make a difference at all that is on the other side.

INTERVIEWER: So they don’t care whether they are selected or… okay I understand.

PARTICIPANT: It has…

INTERVIEWER: You would say it is team specific?

PARTICIPANT: It’s not perceived in the same way. I think that could be an influence by

the leadership by the way that they perceive it themselves the way they portray it to their team

like maybe Sunrise carries this than the other so that influences the perception of the work team,

but in my particular area I don’t think it really makes a difference whether you on it or not that’s

just like another self awareness type of…

INTERVIEWER: So this is a question of being selected or not, but those who were selected

and yourself who went through the program, has the program influenced the work environment

in a sense of collaborative work and team spirit and cohesion around the team?

PARTICIPANT: I think that not enough people have been coached so outside of all the

good stuff as I said in principle I think that is what the program is trying to achieve if you’ve got

merit it makes sense. I think that is the way in which it is being executed could do with some

work and there’s a couple of stuff so I don’t know how the candidates are selected. I think they

selected kind of anybody will do kind of thing you kind of correct in what you do, you go on the

course. I think some more work could be done on that in terms of understanding the

psychological makeup and where they are personally professionally before they… so they can be

receptive to this kind of thing. And then that is sort of from bottom up and then from the top

down the leaders will make decisions need to be coached because it is no use you and I going

76

into this sort of coaching environment coming up with all of these things and the leaders are

completely [unclear 0:08:54] to it. So you can try things and they will be like what are you

trying.

INTERVIEWER: So what you are saying is: if you coach people in a team the manager must

be coached because if he or she is not coached then the efforts are going to be less visible?

PARTICIPANT: Yes. Because if I look at it logically he put somebody into this course and

then think exactly ideally you want positive change if that manager cannot recognize that

positive change and be receptive to it and encourage and support it, it’s going to be useless.

PARTICIPANT: I will add a bit on that sort of a bit of two on both sides, but maybe a

different perspective from my side is so there is the element of people going on and there’s a

section of people who don’t go on [unclear 0:09:51]. So the first bit is it is a different language

we’ve got this knowledge, we’ve got this bit that we built up other people don’t have those skill

set they haven’t had that opportunity, but also find that even us who have been on there I think

we lose it there is quite a lot that we lose in fact before the session I came in I read through my

file again and some of the coaching notes I made and thought I need to read this a little bit more

right there are a couple of things that could help me as well. So we have done in [unclear

0:10:25] in Chevron where only a selected probably 50/60 candidates that have been on it, but

there a lot of people who haven’t been on it so they don’t see that… so you talked about the

collaborative effort do we all see the same things I probably don’t think so, I think it’s being

done [unclear 0:10:46] people go through it and I’ve lost touch, I mean maybe the other guys are

a little better, but I have lost touch with a lot of what I have learnt and I don’t know if I am

anticipating a future question of views, but some refresher around this is also going to be your

own drive and you got to go and check some of these things like we have been given these…

there’s a big investment made on these things for us.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think it would be relevant to have some kind of touch base every

now and then where they will refresh those skills? Like refreshing the skills?

PARTICIPANT: No doubt. It would help a lot if that refresher you get a lot at a time and

then we just don’t want to lose it… it’s like most programs I don’t know, how do you guys feel?

PARTICIPANT: I see it if you look at the intent purpose definition of coach, the coach is

being someone who stays with you for a short period of time and they speak to you, they impart

knowledge and then they leave. A coach is an intimate relationship it’s almost a bond that you

form almost like a parent. Again I come to the intent in purpose which is good again in the

execution I think could do some work. The format of that is you go with instruction form you go

once every three months for 18 months there is no really valuation you don’t really know. You

were talking about investment, you saying investment the words that you used just before

investment is return on, so how do we know and how do you measure this in the light, are we

getting things done quicker are we arguing less, fighting less, making decisions faster. I’m not

saying that it is not happening but how do we know is this just one of those things that looks

good on paper it sounds good to people, but you don’t really know whether it is effective as it

looks on paper and as it would be practiced.

INTERVIEWER: I would like to ask you a question about engaging in conversations with

others. Do you think that coaching enables capacities of constructive feedback, solving problems

in a constructive manner, treating issues on time and more efficiently, understanding by the

managers of the team needs and as for the direct reports, capacity to communicate their concerns

to the managers in the more understandable way or even communicate? Is there any change as

for engaging with other people?

77

PARTICIPANT: I could give a perspective from my side, but it would be interesting to see

how people see me right, because that is the key as well so I have been aware ever since…

INTERVIEWER: You’re a manager right?

PARTICIPANT: Yes. So I have been aware of listening more I may not always do it that

well, but I always had that awareness and I think we’ve got those coaching [unclear 0:14:27]

cards did you guys… so I have two sets of it so two different messages I get at a point in time

just to remind me listen a little bit more, make sure that people give their inputs right and then

take it from… and then build on that right, but that is to get the whole trust bit… I think it has

helped me I don’t know it would be interesting to get some perspectives from other people. I’m

not going to ask you now Lesley because you work closely with me but…

PARTICIPANT: Are you in the same team?

PARTICIPANT: Not in the same team, but we do interact [unclear 0:15:03]. But, the

awareness is always there at the back of my head I am not sure if I am doing it well but…

INTERVIEWER: How about you guys?

PARTICIPANT: I agree and disagree then I come back to its intent and purpose to me it

would be of far greater value if everybody in that particular work area where those individuals

are interacting was aware of in the same level that you were and I think along the lines of a

spectrum of extremity right the one end you have nobody that was aware of each other and

against our team have this outcome if you have everybody that is aware we would have a much

more positive outcome so where are you and just to come back to the point that it would be a lot

easier we could reach decisions and solve problems and I think crucially that is what we are

trying to do, we are solving problems [unclear segment] and what courses intended to help you

from a behavioral perspective to solve problems. So it would just make sense that if a lot more

people had that foundation ability that foundation awareness it’s like you kind of standing alone

in a crowd, and you’re trying to apply your skills but a little while ago and it’s slowly beginning

to [unclear 0:16:44] there is also a risk of you let’s call it relapse you forget because behaviors

are entrenched through habit and repetition, exposure, environment if you don’t have all of those

things how are those behaviors going to become entrenched.

PARTICIPANT: Yes I think for me as I am looking at my band here because if I could do a

comparison and understand cost implications are also on the same practicality point of view this

is e-colors that have been rolled out to the entire workforce which is understood by all members

to your point. You get different levels, you get people that have gone maybe through like the

introductory bit and then you have your champions which are at a much higher level that I would

see probably as your coaches. The challenge I sometimes find is yes from the coaching training

that I have attended I’m pretty aware of who I am, what I need to do, how I need to engage with

my team and I can influence my team but sometimes if it doesn’t get accepted or understood

maybe at a higher level, then that is where it ends and if there was like some sort of awareness

that affects a bigger team not to the extent of 18 months, but just compared to when you speak to

anybody in Chevron now about e-colors everybody would have some form of understanding.

Coaching is seen as for the elite denominated by the supervises that person and it is not seen as

entrenching to the workforce that everybody has a better understanding for it because people

don’t understand it they become opinionated about it and that is my take on the matter to the

point of where you spoke about earlier about that engagement I remembered a few years ago

after we completed our first session the intent was to have our copies as a [unclear 0:18:58] to

have these engagement treatment basis it was okay in the beginning because when I spoke to

another like Donavon we could use the jargon, people would understand when I talked about the

78

[unclear 0:19:12] of inference you would understand when I talk about direct conversations

allowing you into my circle but not everybody understood that so when you leave it’s kind of

like you being left on your own fed to the wolves and you have to fend. And yes, if you had that

group support, occasionally in touch points then it helps but my walls I can’t even remember

when I did mine but it could have been 2012 around about 2012/2013 when the first [unclear

0:19:45] came. And that’s it, Donavon’s point is if you use it, you get better at it but if you don’t

use it, you lose it.

INTERVIEWER: What I am reading in what you say is that it might create a certain level of

frustration when you went through it, but you cannot be heard by people around because they do

not necessarily use the same language, they do not use the same terms, is that correct?

PARTICIPANT: Can I quickly and I won’t take too long but just build on something you

mentioned that was around coaching and it prompted me to think of something where you have

that coaching for a period which is great, it’s 18 months that we had the actual coaching and you

had this relationship with someone that you could just literally it wasn’t like a counselor

psychologist but it was something… it actually helped me when I… I think 15 minutes before

this meeting just to go through a couple of things and I looked at some of the stuff that was

shared with me and where I was in my career around some issues and that helped a hell of a lot.

If I could have that maybe a year ago or when I had been going through some you almost needed

that trusting bit that kind of is powerful.

PARTICIPANT: You raise a point Donavan that I have been trying to I know this is part of

your question…

PARTICIPANT: No, continue I think you are going on the path that I want to go too…

PARTICIPANT: In terms of like the execution in the way that this service is packaged it’s

fixed structured and I think that the crucial weakness or call it opportunity to the politically

[unclear 0:21:34] is that there are no outcomes… there aren’t any goals in terms of there is a

problem that needs to be solved and I am going to use these skills that I have and I am going to

solve it because once you have solved that problem you can look back and that is when you learn

and take that learning forward. In terms of execution I would think that a much more effective

way together with the 18 months is that when you are presented whether yourself or your leaders

present with some sort of issue, it doesn’t matter what it is you call him a coach and they will

coach both of you… you or three or four whoever is going through this particular issue having

this let’s call it a disagreement for lack of a better word. So you go through this and the coach

works with you as you try and solve this problem, you solve the problem and then collectively

you learn about what it is…

INTERVIEWER: So more like a hands on practical approach instead of learning different

behaviors outside of context and then trying to apply them?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: So reacting to situations?

PARTICIPANT: Exactly because in three [noisy interruption] you can learn about applying

it, but you are not actually applying it. The coach will also have an opportunity of observing you

in a real world scenario observant [noisy background]

PARTICIPANT: So maybe the issue is right and you said you’ve gone through that 18

months you’ve gone through your one on one coaching sessions with the coach, now your

period ends, three, four years ago, now I face day to day issues challenges at work, now we are

in the process of say that I have liberty to contact that person to say this is the issue, and if that

was there then to Donavan’s response like last year he maybe had issues and I had issues, would

79

have just been nice to say okay fine, if that comes up, that is like a lifelong connection with your

lifeline because now you have all the theory and you can only apply up to the stage where it

makes sense to you, but if that connection was still there… yes, we try and help from one another

but this person might even know less than what you do, or maybe just slightly maybe just a bit of

a nudge[?] that you needed from the coach and that is not what I am saying.

INTERVIEWER: So a certain level of follow up would be very relevant actually?

PARTICIPANT: It’s a very… maybe you want to go through some of the other questions?

INTERVIEWER: No, no, continue, please.

PARTICIPANT: But, it’s a… the more you think about it, I haven’t thought about it or not

to be honest with you it’s a powerful resource and obviously if we are in a good mind space and

you are able to address some of the issues we become a little bit more productive and we work

from it because that is the key here, is for benefit [unclear 0:24:51] in the work front you as a

person if you are solid and if you… it helps in the work front right… it’s probably a

consideration so your record button is still working right… but I mean that would be really good

as in just where we go if the program was… that would be a [unclear 0:25:12] benefit if we have

continuity going forward in future to coaching.

PARTICIPANT: I mean even in my opinion if people scrap the 18 months just introduce the

target of coaching from the start I think that you would learn a lot more and then [noisy

background] post problem solving session where the coach sits down and this what you need, it

could have worked like that in terms of the [unclear 0:25:44] I think it is far more effective.

INTERVIEWER: So could we say more practice less theory?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, that just summarized everything that I said..

INTERVIEWER: Thanks to you, you enabled this understanding so… Guys, I see you are

all managers… can you tell me a little bit about empowerment and engagement of your direct

reports?

PARTICIPANT: I had one direct report go through it. And your question I just want to

make sure that I understand it… is it… do they feel more empowered?

INTERVIEWER: Yes, or do you feel that they feel more empowered? Do you perceive them

as more engaging with what they are doing? Would they be more problem solving orientated

coming with creative solutions?

PARTICIPANT: One-word answer?

INTERVIEWER: Not necessarily.

PARTICIPANT: One person… a person became arrogant and he is no longer working with

us and…

INTERVIEWER: So it made this person become more arrogant that is amazing… I’m not

going to use it that way I’m going to say increases arrogance this is going to be the statement, but

it is very interesting. What about the problem solving do you think it helped your problem

solving competencies? Please don’t enter into personal problems, just tell me in the light of

coaching outcomes, has it an influenced on your personal life and personal problem solving?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, for me certainly especially the difficult conversations… the

courageous conversations and that was like… I learnt a lot in an instant things start by having my

conversation just stopped, just do it. So certainly in my personal life where there is a lot more

understanding of me, but not so much where people are driven by something else.

INTERVIEWER: By?

PARTICIPANT: By something else. So it is not as easy I have seen some incremental

improvement, but it is still it’s a lot of work it can be worth [unclear 0:28:32] also if you try to

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coach somebody or you try to work with somebody who hasn’t been coached and doesn’t have

that sense of [unclear 0:28:40]

INTERVIEWER: Anything to add?

PARTICIPANT: Again, you have just prompted another thought about courageous

conversation, I think I have had a lot of courageous conversations since I have been on this

program it has helped me to step out and that has been the benefit for me is to have the

conversations with people typically who would not easily have and whether it is with my team

members or whether it is my peers, and whether it is with the management team as well still

within the framework of trying to get the things across being a lot more courageous could benefit

out of that one.

INTERVIEWER: Lesley, do you have anything to add?

PARTICIPANT: No, not really, I think I agree with the two of them for me it was just that

I get the feeling that I might not be always understood as an individual but I can understand

people better based on the tools that I was given.

INTERVIEWER: What about your level of energy, enthusias, job satisfaction, level of

boredom at work if any, has it changed?

PARTICIPANT: Just a bit of a funny flavor in the company at this stage because obviously

of some business issues and some stuff so I think that left a bit of a bitter sweet taste in my

mouth, but in terms of my energy levels how I do my job, I think it is pretty much the same.

PARTICIPANT: So my case is my opinion is pretty objective, but the environment that I

work in I have been trying to use change for a very long time since the beginning of 2015 since I

have been back from my international [unclear 0:30:45] I saw some stuff that just completely

amazed me trying to bring some of that change here and it [unclear 0:30:56]

INTERVIEWER: Resistance to change?

PARTICIPANT: Resistance to change yes big time. It’s like those kind of things that you

read about in Thesis like yours in… and research papers you read about it and you hear about it

and then it is something that the people, they read about it are so completely oblivious to it, they

think that they are not doing it [unclear 0:31:17] so how do you introduce change… for the

people to see the value of the change that you are trying to introduce.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think that coaching program in principle could have a positive

influence on the change acceptance?

PARTICIPANT: If it is done in the right way if it’s done differently.

INTERVIEWER: That’s to say it’s accessible to a larger public it’s…

PARTICIPANT: Top down, bottom up sideways…

INTERVIEWER: And more practice and also a follow up?

PARTICIPANT: Yes absolutely I agree with you.

PARTICIPANT: I have been in my role before… my role before Sunrise has been about

making change and being one of the focal points of making change happen in our business unit. I

mentioned earlier and I just [unclear 0:32:13] to the courageous conversations right, so we have

seen opportunity for that by having those courageous conversations or having those

conversations around what I think and… I have been able to have more of them so it has helped

in terms of getting change across within the organization that I am within so a little bit different

to [unclear 0:32:41] experience they have been a little bit more open in my view to changes and a

lot coming from my side around that which is has made me even just okay, so that has gone, so

now I need to… here’s an opportunity it’s good for the business rather let’s bring this forward as

well so it has helped you with that sort of confidence. I don’t know if it is directly the program I

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think it is my job being like that. I think perhaps also being a little bit more confident in bringing

it forward and putting it forward may have been as a direct result of the programs as well.

INTERVIEWER: It is going to be my last question. But, before I ask it, I need to understand

if you are in direct contact with customers or with outside environment?

PARTICIPANT: Outside of Chevron?

INTERVIEWER: Yes, customers can also be considered like contractors or sub-contractors,

anybody that you contact outside the company actually and if so, do you perceive any change or

increase or decrease of quality of customer service of your teams, of your direct reports, yourself

any kind of influence that this program could have had?

PARTICIPANT: So you a customer to me?

PARTICIPANT: You both are customers to me.

INTERVIEWER: It can also be defined that way? In other words, how do you serve others?

PARTICIPANT: My initial thought was just probably not that now I think about it, yes I

deal a lot with our operation staff I’m in the field the one bit and I do know at some stage in my

career there was more about and it is probably the initial part of this role which I have been in for

the last five, six years now it was to guys you’ve got to do it this way… you’ve got to do it this

way right, and there was pretty much one way and I got a lot of push back on a lot of stuff. I had

to try and find different skill sets to get my stuff across and what I thought was good for the

business and had buy in this sort of IQ level and I think the program in that sense has helped me

around how to get that influence… the same message exactly the same type of things but it is

how do I do this and it is engage people a little bit more, get their inputs but I am still coming

with my bits and I am getting a lot more across that is from my experience.

PARTICIPANT: Not really observed I couldn’t say one way or the other [unclear 0:35:41]

well not within my work team but me again personally yes.

INTERVIEWER: Lesley, anything to add?

PARTICIPANT: I think it is a kind of a situation where your pool that you are working with

is too small compared to like a droplet in the ocean so I don’t see that significant change but to

me like Donavan’s team would be part of my customer’s that I would engage with and there are

issues out there, but I mean we I think we deal with it as and when it comes and don’t see any

significant changes or issues and part of it is probably my perception is part of it is probably

because I am just one individual within the group just one particular department it’s slightly

influenced change and sometimes you are being swamped by all these other issues [unclear

0:36:52] because you don’t have the top support maybe leadership sees if from the angle that you

see it in terms of missing a point that you want to introduce change you stand for it but it’s just

you. So that is my perception in that regard.

INTERVIEWER: Perfect, anything that you would like to add before the end or are you

okay and comfortable?

PARTICIPANT: I’m good.

PARTICIPANT: I say very good idea it can be extremely effective if applied correctly.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you very much.

FOCUS GROUP 2

INTERVIEWER: It’s 27th October.It’s 14h11 in the afternoon. We are at Chevron. Guys,

can we start by sharing your general impressions on the Sunrise Leadership Program. Please

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share whatever comes to your mind, what you have learnt from this program, and before we go

to the precise questions.

PARTICIPANT: I think it was a useful program I think the fact that the program wasn’t

structured in a like a week or two weeks and you kind of did it over a sequence of a year and a

half it gave you the opportunity to kind of take the tools to learn and so it wasn’t sort of when we

go on a course you rushed in a week or two days whatever, so you get one concept and you focus

on that.

PARTICIPANT: If I can maybe build maybe I think one of the challenges I found was it

gave you a lot of tools to use but in the environment where you process on so if your

approaching a feedback session you quickly have to go back to the tool and say what did I learn

and revise I guess and how can you improve that… I guess by meeting more regularly but you

are not always faced with those types of scenarios.

PARTICIPANT: For me I’m not going to sit here and talk about how we went about it but

probably the benefits for me was I am in the HR environment so I probably would get a little bit

more opportunity to engage or utilize coaching conversations because I get people walking in

engaging at different levels different expectations, so it allows me to guide or influence from a

leadership level right down to an employee level and it has helped me a lot that process because I

can easily identify what type of conversation I should have, or identify where there is an issue

especially if there is an employment relations issues in a specific business unit or a specific

organization it allows me to identify quickly what the opportunity is then try and relay the leader

in that way to develop either whether it’s an opportunity where we need to build more trust, or is

it opportunity to be able to have a bit more robust conversation direct conversations to get into a

different result or a different direction. So I have learnt quite a bit what and there was a lot of

opportunity for me to actually apply a lot of this. So that is from a career point of view, but also

personally how to manage some of those conversations as well. So for me the benefit was very

big and very broad as well if you can call it that.

INTERVIEWER: Does anybody want to add anything?

PARTICIPANT: There are two aspects to the Sunrise program and the one is where you go

for… you attend classes and the other one is where you have a personal coach and I think I had a

lot of benefits out of the coaching sessions where it was one on one was about you as a person,

and also there was where you identified your because all of a sudden your weaknesses and your

strengths and also listening to your background where you are coming from, because we all

come from diverse background and it was very pin pointed direction how to manage new people.

It also gave you a lot of chance to listen more because while we are listening, we are preparing a

response which you are not supposed to do you supposed to listen attentively before responding

to somebody. So from my laboratories it is difficult for me to get myself off the technical side of

or the operational side of the laboratory because I got a lot experience and always going back

helping the guys take me through. It was a real process for me to get out of the technical and

actually be strategic for the laboratory it was a challenge for me to do that. Also the other

challenge was, we had to sit back and coach and try to coach people to come to their own

solution and at the end of the day the guys reckon what is this manager doing, he is not doing

any work so that was since I was [unclear 0:04:32] this guy is sitting in his office he doesn’t do

any work. So it was a real grappling with new issues and it was challenging at times, but I think

this is a very prudent program to really change your paradigm on how you manage people.

PARTICIPANT: So I think all of the above, my big take away from the Sunrise Leadership

Program or the biggest benefit to me was having the personal coach for an extended period of

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time in fact and mostly in my role it was a little bit more relevant because you’ve got one week

or a three-day block of theoretical learning and not always a lot of opportunity to apply it before

the next module progressing. By having a personal coach there you can kind of park certain

scenarios and visit your coach and sort of download and then develop strategies along with your

coach on how to address those scenarios going forward. So it’s a kind of there is a bigger

element in planning your interactions and I think for me that is also a big learning in it not every

interaction needs to be reactionary but it is actually you get a better outcome if it is planned and

if you know what tool to address or to utilize for particular scenario you actually get the kind of

outcome that you want. I think the way it is structured is quite well thought out.

PARTICIPANT: Then there is just one other thing on Andy’s I think it gives you huge

personal development so it’s not only… there is a little bit of technical skills or leadership skill

that they give you, but the personal development is very big and it doesn’t… you cannot only

apply it to work, but apply it to your personal life and I think for me personally, it has already

helped like in many different situations, so I think the coaching I think something that is very

useful.

PARTICIPANT: So there is one thing that sort of came up for me around the personal

coaching and the reason why I am picking up is that I am getting approached or I’m being

approached about is there more coaching available and I think the reason for that is not

everybody’s journey is the same, and you sort of get to a… from a dependency mode to an inter-

dependency mode but I think what happens and my experiences, maybe I moved through that

journey with sufficient or even less coaching sessions where another person might that journey

will be different for them so it closes off, there is a period of time and it stops and for some that

independency might not have happened yet they may be needed more the coach potentially they

may have realized that part could only offer it outside the company and I think there may be that

opportunity to say okay is someone reaches that level of independency very quickly, why not

shift some of some of that to those who actually need it more to follow that journey because I

think there needs to be a result of okay, this is where that person is now, he or she is able to sort

of take this methodology and apply it freely because they have reached that level of independent

not… or dependent not independency let me just talk about independency much quicker than the

next person because coaching I think starts from a dependency mode to where you feel okay you

sort of now kind manage a lot of that that you’ve shared you can start managing because what

this coaching is about is reflecting what it’s about so now it becomes a lot more vivid for you to

identify and obviously apply it or manage it right. So for me that maybe is the opportunity as

well.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me a bit about the influence of coaching and relationships? I

mean I would like you to speak about mutual understanding, the influence of collaborative work,

team cohesion, team work anything that comes to your mind that is linked to professional

relationships.

PARTICIPANT: I think that there were a couple of things that you said but for me, the

willingness that I can engage with people differently and understand where they are coming from

and I understand where you are at that time makes a big difference in your ability to work with

others. And often we get into a space or I would get into a space where I don’t realize the

entire… what is happening around me or I don’t realized that the person I am speaking to maybe

in a different space and you just deal about it in a normal business way if I can call it and what

the [unclear 0:09:53] it takes a personal… the fact the realities that you are dealing with people,

so if you are dealing with any issue of work, or when you are working with a colleague for me it

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allows you to think of this person not only as another tool or like this is a personal relationship

but the is actually a person and a person has a different environment or background or something

that is happening within their head, it sort of allows you to connect better with them and

understand them better, and make yourself understood. And I think for me that’s a big benefit.

PARTICIPANT: There are many examples of that I mean I’m just thinking about having

direct conversations of something that may have happened and how do you then resolve that as

you tried to put that person into your shoes, but you also tried to at some point I think there is a

section that tells you to put yourself in their issues, what was that approach about and that often

helps you then to resolve the issue much quicker because you show a level of empathy towards

that person that they get where you are coming from because he actually gets where I am coming

from and that gets you quicker to some sort of consensus how we move forward, is that a

different approach to that point or not. I think that is probably the one the really big one that was

for me was good and hard to get past some of the issues that you have with colleagues and to

move all into the same direction as well.

PARTICIPANT: I think for me was that they talked about structure of interpretation

[unclear 0:11:27] and I was kind of trying to be curious about this not kind of what you think it is

and that is your view and so being curious being open to okay maybe that is something else

happening for that person or they’ve got a different perception that you haven’t even kind of

thought of or touched on and you willing to kind to go down that road if that is the way I think it

is so therefore it is.

PARTICIPANT: Understanding yourself also plays a part in how you relate to others with

the coaching sessions you tend to see how others see you, and like coach directing you in a

certain way also gives you more confidence looking at your pitfalls and the shortfalls how you

relate to other people and from a professional sight like when you are having issues you don’t

bring your emotions into the discussion or into the issue that has been discussed so you tend to

be more professional because you don’t bring the emotion in, you put the business issue in front

of you and sort of personalizing and putting [unclear 0:12:38].

INTERVIEWER: Kind of projecting?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: There was something you mentioned earlier about listening not to reply

about listening to really understand and that helps with collaboration that helps to get the person

onto your side as well to drive your particular position as well, but then also get their position

and try to get some sort of consensus as well, I think that also collaborates is really listening to

understand instead of trying to reply or to respond to something that… so you already have a

predisposed position about what you going to respond to the person already so that from a

coaching perspective that helps a lot.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I think I agree with everything that has been said around the table. I

think one of the challenges that we do face with the coaching approaches that the successors

often are largely dependent on the recipient. If the recipient is senior management and even

though they may have been on the coaching journey they may not have absorbed it, I find that

having those types of conversations can be quite challenging because they realize what you are

doing and the wall goes up so now you’ve got to try and walk around the wall and that changes

the complexion of the interaction again. It does require both parties to have to attend to it I find

that it is easier when you are dealing with people that are on a similar level to you in an

organization or on a sub-ordinate level to the organization because it is much tougher when you

are dealing with people that are higher up in the organization who have got more competing

85

challenges and have got a predetermined outcome for a discussion and now you come with your

social science wishy washy and trying to sway them an push them into a different direction to

have a different outlook…

INTERVIEWER: So if I understand what you are saying is that in case you would be dealing

with a superior who won’t look out or understand the language in the methodology and [unclear

0:14:44] and so forth, and you would like to put forward certain ideas that this person is not

necessarily [unclear 0:14:51] in agreement with it can become more difficult because you would

be spotted us somebody who would be [unclear 0:14:57] using those techniques to try and

convince them.

PARTICIPANT: I look at it slight different term I say for me and I think where it works a

lot is the coaching technique when you ask people questions sporadic questions that you can get

to understand me better and if there was a promising view that you wanted to impose you could

for me I could assess… okay you trying to shape it by asking questions and I think you are

taking it down a path, and either they ready to go down the path or they are not. And if they are

not ready then it’s like you not ready and I get that let it go, and maybe at a later point you can be

ready. I don’t think sometimes okay maybe I’m not speaking for you I’m saying I’m thinking of

a real example this week when a colleague of mine was like shut off on a particular issue and I

just realized actually this person isn’t ready to go and engage and foster a better relationship with

another colleague you know just let it go, it will come back at a later point. And I don’t know if

they potentially block, maybe for them they potentially block it up because they don’t want to

hear what you’ve got to say but I think that probing question is what…

PARTICIPANT: No, no, I agree with you 100% what I am saying is often when you are

dealing with somebody who is senior to you then maybe a time constraint to the action so there is

a time level on it and if they are not receptive to the language that you were using, or the

coaching language that you are using you no longer have the luxury of time you now need to

develop an affirmative engagement strategy and often it means you backtrack in engaging the

way they want the engagement to take place which doesn’t mean that it is a failure, it just means

that you now have flexibility and you don’t have the opportunity to utilize that…

PARTICIPANT: I think I know what you mean I think you are referring to you want the

opportunity to influence that leader and the leader is not giving you the opportunity they not

receiving the message they are inflexible at that point in time and I suppose I can relate to the

other side of that, is that that point doesn’t engage then I know there are time constraints, but

then you have to sort of make a decision whether that is going to actually be the right time. If it is

not the right time then you have to either go forward and take the rejection or use pause and use

another time to actually influence in a different way. I mean I think we expect our leaders to look

at us with a level of sincerity by how we approach them about… it’s not about… we don’t have

an agenda we come with a real business objective to achieve whatever we need to achieve.

INTERVIEWER: Guys you have touched on a lot on the concept of “conversations”. You

probably remember from your coaching training in the concept of “courageous conversations”.

In case you are currently in a managerial role would you say that you have a better understanding

of your team after SLP? In case you are in the direct report role, do you have an impression that

coaching has improved your capacity to communicate your concerns to the managers, to give

constructive feedback? Has it improved your conversational competencies? I guess in most

cases, most of us are managers towards certain people and direct-reports towards others.

PARTICIPANT: Yes I think it does because I mean as touched on earlier it develops you as

a person your emotional intelligence has improved and therefore your ability to understand

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somebody else whatever space they are in has also been improved and therefore that interaction

that deeper level of understanding of what is going on between you and the other individual

across the table just helps you firstly because you understand there is more empathy

immediately, unless you want to shut empathy out, but I mean generally part of the coaching

journey is to introduce empathy into every conversation. So from that perspective at the moment

you bring that to the table it changes the complexion of the conversation immediately. So

whichever conversation you going to have after that, I do find that it is typically easier.

PARTICIPANT: So I would probably get there quicker right? I think what… Chevron has

this direct approach one of the drivers for us is about directness making sure that it… and

sometimes directness can be twisted to depending on the agenda but I think what the coaching

has done has… it gets you to that courageous conversation a lot quicker you execute on it

quicker, where you would have been hesitant because you know what this person is about, and so

now what creates that methodology says to you okay, you can get there quicker, how can you get

there quicker because there is a methodology. If you use this methodology I think the result will

come out differently and that it has also taught you that you can’t accept I suppose you can’t

control how they would feel about that conversation so that is the other part it feels it makes you

to go there a lot quicker because you can’t control it for the other person, you have to… so you

have learnt to accept the fact that you can’t control that person, but at least you making it visible

to that person it is up to them now to decide what is that they are they doing with that. So it is

easier for me to go there because I don’t have to control what that person thinks, because that

fear is a lot less but strong considerably.

PARTICIPANT: I find personally I can spot where people are on the emotional curve far

easier now particularly when you are having a courageous conversation with someone and that

just helps you to determine the level of… the weight of furthering the conversation like what is

the next sentence, how does the next sentence need to be, or how light does it need to be. So it

helps you react a lot faster to the individual on the other side of the table and that tends to keep

them there longer as well. Some people will just once they get to a certain point in that curve

they want to get over [unclear segment]. It allows you because I could spot it a lot easier now it

allows me to soften the conversation just to keep them engaging to keep the information flowing

in.

INTERVIEWER: It improved the capacity of observation of the person that you have in

front of you?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: You almost know when to stop as well because if… there is a tendency

you don’t know when to stop, so the person’s receptive and then you continue to just show up

more stuff right and then, but then you realize showing up more stuff has just pulled this person’s

back up how did that happen, but at a point you didn’t recognize where to stop and just get that

one win first and I think that is a lot more clear so let’s bank this first let’s move away we will

have the discussion about something else later this was about this… don’t line it up when you

see you are succeeding with one thing.

PARTICIPANT: For me as a head of a [unclear 0:22:37] what Ian has just described is

vitally important because the moment I sniff the win that is where I am going to go from I am

going to go from the win but often winning isn’t the best outcome it is not about me winning it’s

about the organization winning and often that means now I need to backtrack so it is very hard

for me to be able to do that because I can see… I’m so conscious of it now; I realize I can hit my

87

pause button a lot easier so it actually has improved my perception and my use of my only colors

as well.

INTERVIEWER: Do you have anything to add?

PARTICIPANT: I think probably just the self awareness and when you wanting to have

those certain conversations and when you can gain the emotions you [unclear segment]

conversation now stepping back and waiting for when it is… so just that whole self awareness

and [unclear segment]

PARTICIPANT: So typically I mean like my environment where we have unionized folks

and we have shop stewards in the laboratory so you always have the courageous conversations,

but you have much more confidence now because you have acquired the tools during the

program to actually address the situation much more amicably so you have this confidence to

challenge things in a way that is much more professional than bulldozing things down people’s

throats. So in terms of relating higher up… currently we have challenges where there are

discussions around like we how we make our organization more efficient and there are issues of

being more efficient with our resources and I see that I must have much more confidence of

[unclear 0:24:38] to actually challenge my manager and say what is your thinking and this is my

thinking and why must I accept your thinking here’s my [unclear 0:24:49] there’s my

substantiation so I have that confidence to do that I didn’t have that before, so that is a good

thing.

INTERVIEWER: Would you like to add something?

PARTICIPANT: No, I think it is covered I think although I was going to add the point

about self awareness understanding what an issue means to you when you are having a

courageous conversation is an important consideration.

INTERVIEWER: Let’s talk about the level of engagement at work and in particular the level

of contributions of your direct reports and yourself? For example, the level of micro

management, has it decreased or increased following the program? Have you noticed any

influence on the level of absenteeism?

PARTICIPANT: I don’t have any directive [speaking simultaneously]

PARTICIPANT: I can’t speak to that either because I don’t have any direct reports a lot of

people that I interact with…

INTERVIEWER: You could speak about yourself also.

PARTICIPANT: So from myself I have never been a micro manager so I don’t know if

there has been any changes as far as my micro management, but what I do feel is that I am less

anxious about things that I request so if I request something from someone typically in the past

what I would do is I would be checking on them on a daily basis how is this coming along

whereas I have a conversation with them this is what I require can you assist, if you can’t assist

can you find someone else, and then I will set a time with them, can we just check… can we go

to milestone[?] check at a certain point in time and just like to have a deliverable whereas in the

past it would be like I would be on the case every day.

INTERVIEWER: Does it mean that an increased level of trust would also be one of the

results of the SLP?

PARTICIPANT: That’s right yes.

PARTICIPANT: I think it also helped because that whole kind of thing is that the right

person that you put in your request so when you did that particular module is that the right

person you putting your request in and be very specific about what you need from them and by

when so that is always a challenge [unclear 0:26:55] I actually want this but I’m not keen to ask

88

for it because I need it in five days or ten days and this person has probably got 110 things to do,

but just being clever, this what I need, why I need it and just being sure that it is the right person

that you are sending it to, so that kind of… helps a bit of it there is no one else I can ask I need it

from you. So I don’t think I have been like…

INTERVIEWER: So do you think this capacity to choose the right person comes from some

kind of competency to see clearer? Where can I get what I want…

PARTICIPANT: I think one of the steps that I have done is maybe just to engage that

person depends on what the task is if it is something big right is actually to go and engage a

person and just make my thinking visible around and so I thinking you can help me with this…

this is the reason why before I just go and say we love to send emails, so I’m trying to have a bit

of a conversation first so we are on some sort of same level so that when that request hits them

it’s kind of either supply or tested actually are you the right person or not the right person for it

but it depends on the task you can’t do that with everything.

PARTICIPANT: I was going to say the same thing I no longer send an email I go to the

person and say and I do the same thing… it’s about understanding making sure expectations are

clear and we understand what they are looking for, making sure that they understand where it is

coming from why it is needed and you get more support, and you get more buy in, it is much

easier and I also don’t have direct reports, I have to [unclear 0:28:22] obviously support means

certain projects some of them and it’s helped tremendously in that space where people are more

committed to give you what you were looking for and I think another thing that comes to mind,

one is willing to now not willing sorry, you acknowledge people easier, it is easier now, it seems

easier now to acknowledge them and more obvious than what it was before. Before you felt like

you were kind of trying to handle them, not handle is the wrong word, but trying to manage them

and now you kind of like sitting back and saying it is very clear about you want to… and if you

give me something and it looks like this, that is okay, so I just think it is easier also to now go

back to people and say well done, maybe even give some positive feedback or… I think what I

wanted to add was around the micro managing from a management point of view I sense and I

don’t know if it’s my managery[?] style but actually my performance I think has improved

because I also make sure that my expectations are clear both ways, so it’s people that help me

with certain projects and then people who I report to I make it clear that this is a reasonable

expectation and this is unreasonable and this is what I am doing so that they also clear so it

works both ways, and I think that helps both from micro managing downward and like managing

upwards if I can put it that way.

PARTICIPANT: In terms of micro managing I mean prior to Sunrise I used to micro

manage I didn’t allow the people to make the mistakes because sometimes mistakes are costly

for the laboratory…

PARTICIPANT: It’s still costly.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, it is still costly now so for laboratory if you a [unclear 0:30:02] go

into millions but I have stepped back a bit and allowing the guys to make the mistakes not to

[unclear 0:30:13] the fact that it may impact the business but we at a certain stage now the

majority that we have to allow these things to happen otherwise you going to kill yourself

motivating people and costing you being on people’s back and to the [unclear 0:30:28] so that

has changed. Also the motivation has changed the way you continuously motivate people you

now allowing themselves.

INTERVIEWER: So are empowering them?

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PARTICIPANT: Yes, it’s more like that empowering them and then also in terms of like

helping in [unclear 0:30:48] because I’m allowing the people to think and just learn from it and

the build the organization that way. People are involved to actually make decisions and to

actually do more accurate meaningful work so that helped me to step back at least starting more

strategic for the laboratory moving forward and have a shaping curve for the next few years it

allowed me the time to do that to look at that in a strategic way now instead of doing day to day

operations.

PARTICIPANT: I probably had a very interesting journey when I was on the overseas

assignment I was given the opportunity to supervise five people that have never met me, they

still haven’t met me at all so…

INTERVIEWER: Are you supervising them?

PARTICIPANT: I used to supervise them so for 14/15 months I supervised them and they

have never met me so all they heard is my voice and with each one there was a different journey.

INTERVIEWER: Were they localized somewhere in non-accessible country?

PARTICIPANT: We couldn’t access or go into the country because the country has stopped

all visas being issued and what happened is when I went into that role that was a supervisory role

so I had to give guidance from a different country specifically from the US. And it was very

unique situation and you had to make sure that people achieved their results and coaching

conversations became a lot more critical because my one on one conversations with them you

could easily establish where they are in their journey, well not easy it took me a lot longer to

really know where they are because the conversations had to take… because here you have not

just I don’t think the cultural difference was a big issue, but to understand who they are and

where they come from and what are the conditions was very different to the conditions that I am

used to so I had to really open myself up and to imagine what is it that they need to do, why they

working a six hour day or a five hour day, what is that all about versus what my expectations are.

So that journey for some of those was very successful and we still stay in contact, and there is

still a lot of coaching during this process, but for others it wasn’t because they were not… so it

would have taken a lot longer for me for the one it was about allowing them to go through that

coaching for the other one is still establishing trust so you had to… it wasn’t easy to identify

them, but if you go through that about the eighth month, ninth month, I sort of had a good feel

for where they were and where the one would take a lot longer journey with me than the other

one, where the other one was already on execution phase after we had engaged, and commit to

getting it done, where the other one was just resisting to what was happening. So that was a very

peculiar and a very interesting journey for me and how all of that played out, how we build our

relationships to get things done through the organization even if we haven’t met each other at all.

INTERVIEWER: So you can better identify the person that you have in front of you or in

your case over the phone or wherever the interaction be.

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: And I had to also obviously put myself in their shoes how do they see me

so there was a very I think for some of them it was easy to relate and for some of them they

didn’t understand why I was supervising and why not one of them in their immediate

environment what is that all about so there was somebody’s in culture there was some resistance

as well so there was a couple of things and for some it was easier than the others so it was really

interesting to go through that process with them and I would have liked to have actually stayed

longer to actually get to where I felt comfortable where everyone is now achieving I was never

given that opportunity unfortunately I had to come back.

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INTERVIEWER: We have two remaining subjects to cover so we are almost approaching

the end. First, the creative thinking, the influence of coaching on creative thinking. Coming with

innovative solutions resolving problems in so called out of the box way, anything you would like

to share on this be it in your case or in the case of people who you work with?

PARTICIPANT: [unclear 0:36:01] lot of opportunity where in [unclear 0:36:05] issues into

troubleshoot so I was the forefront of that I stepped back a bit let the junior folk to actually

interrogate a challenge… a testing challenge and I see they very much [unclear 0:36:22]

inquisitive to get involved and that was part of a different aspect of their work and so they were

much more motivated to come to work because they have this extra thing that they were

empowered to do so… looking forward to coming to work because of and given that opportunity

[unclear segment] it was a very… testing equipment there’s specifications you can’t just allow

the people to fiddle with the instrument and suddenly you do [unclear 0:36:57] or it is on

specification and then the [unclear 0:37:02 – 0:37:18] very important that the specifications meet

the prescription of the test so I was given the opportunity to actually do troubleshooting [unclear

0:37:29].

PARTICIPANT: I’m going to relate it back to my previous experience and what I did in

terms of innovation to get a little bit more trust leeway buy in from that team so I had my one on

one conversations on Sundays their day started on a Sunday my day didn’t I didn’t have to, but I

said let me do that so that they then could say okay, he is making an effort to spend some time

with us on a day that he is supposed to actually rest and he knows that that’s not our rest day, but

he also doesn’t bother us on a Friday when it is my rest day. So in terms of innovation I said

okay, let me give some time on that Sunday to actually engage them at that level, so performance

discussions happened on a Sunday one on one discussions happen on a Sunday, anything relating

to where they are struggling, how I can remove some of those barriers happen on a Sunday, so I

think for me, just to understand where they come from and have empathy for that sort of allowed

me to build a better trust relationship with some of those folks as well.

PARTICIPANT: I think one of the things is that and I think we have spoken about it before

is listening to listen and probing questions gets people to think differently and that creates

creative thinking and it is about… and I found like if we work on business solutions by listening

and then questioning for understanding and then questioning to go down a different channel or

take another different path, not the particular path that you were looking to go down, but I think

that creates the opportunity for creative new ideas. So I think the coaching style creates an

opportunity to develop like innovative solutions…

PARTICIPANT: Yes I think in my role as SME Subject Manager Expert people come to me

looking for answers not looking for the answers within themselves, they want me to give them

the answer and often sometimes the answer is actually not really mine to give but because we’ve

got broad experience that it is like a paradigm everyone is just settled into so for me part of my

objectives for 2016 was to work on the element and my [unclear 0:40:00] capability in other

words, help other people to help themselves which is being about creating a creativity but

without actually giving them the answers because if you give people answers, they say feed a

guy… give a guy fish and you feed him for a day and teach him to fish and you will feed him for

a lifetime. I’ve got a colleague in the Asia who is very new in his job and his got no experience

in product engineering so to speak, so it has been quite challenging kind of grow capabilities

from Cape Town into Asia with the time differences and all that, but the guys got the [unclear

0:40:47] clearly he was hired for the job, so it is merely about asking him questions that gets him

thinking about where the potential solutions can be and I find that often when you give people

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the freedom to think for themselves that there is a right way and there is a wrong way, but

generally there are a lot of right ways and a very few wrong ways the only way you going to get

it horribly wrong it is going to be a total disaster and there [unclear 0:41:21] within the

organization to prevent something like that from happening so if you having a good coaching

conversation with someone, providing them with the basics of what they need to be able to sort

of grow to plant a seed in terms of where a solution can lie and give them the opportunity to

think through the rest of the problems themselves and often they will come back to you and they

will ask you hey, would that work. So not only do you create the relationship but you also then

create somebody who realizes that I can think myself through this problem and eventually all

they really use you for is a sounding board and that is kind of where I am at the moment, is at the

sounding board now and when it comes to the few deeper technical issues then I still do need to

lead but by and large I don’t think I would have been there had I not been on Sunrise purely

because I wouldn’t have had the confidence I would have felt that I run the space if I must own

the solution and no one else needs to be privy to the solution. In actual fact, that is not what I am

here for, I am actually here to help other people understand how they can arrive at the same

solution because other problems are going to crop up and I need to be developing solutions for

those problems, I can’t keep solving the same problem over and over that is not organizational

growth and that’s not capability.

PARTICIPANT: And you making him a valuable member of his team now yes so he

becomes the person they rely on.

PARTICIPANT: That’s good.

PARTICIPANT: I was probably going to say what he just said now in terms of actually

being open and not thinking that I need to know the answer to this question I used the word

curious earlier on going down that path and not just saying I need to know the answer but being

open to actually exploring that solution with someone else and thinking my ways… I need to

give you the answer and I need to figure it out myself and engage in that conversation with the

other person or people to get something that works.

INTERVIEWER: Kind of embracing not knowing? Last, but not least, within your

departments you are in contact with other departments or the clients outside… did you have the

impression that coaching had an influence on the customer service? By customer service I mean

simply contacts with other departments that you are serving or who serve you? Has there been

any influence on this particular aspect?

PARTICIPANT: I’m not going to answer first though… for me it is yes, yes…

PARTICIPANT: It did influence it the way we interact now so the latest one is the which I

discussed earlier the efficiency of the business and looking at opportunities now to actually

optimize a testing schedule for refinery so we actually cutting down some of their not so valuable

tests to create more efficiency and I find it very easy now to actually consult with the engineers

and also their managers as to how we going to do this and instead of saying do we need to do

that and how we going to do this because we need to [unclear segment] prior to Sunrise because

before it was always a fight it’s not a fight anymore so it has equipped me to actually interact at a

much higher level than what we used to.

PARTICIPANT: I’ve had the opportunity to move from one business unit to another

business unit to another business unit and the important part about that was establishing trust

very quickly across customer base around different cultures so for me it was… it helped me a lot

listening with to understand rather than to just keep my version of what should happen across

different working environments coming back to South Africa having a completely different

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client group now again, how do I establish that level of trust again with this particular client and

a doubly quick way because they want to get things done, so I need to understand very quickly

what this business is all about and getting things done the way they want it done as well so that

for me is invaluable is that listening skill that I was taught to hold yourself back try to really

listen and then establishing the trust relation fairly quickly as well so that you can deliver on

what is expected and also give your input with credibility establishing credibility with a client

fairly quickly is critical for me in that HR role as well.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I think…

PARTICIPANT: I have only been in one business unit ever since I [unclear 0:46:57] so I

was very limited. My interactions have always been across the same business unit so it is a bit

difficult for me to contribute further than what Ronnie and Ian has already contributed.

INTERVIEWER: Perfect, last but not least have you got anything to add? Anything that

comes to your mind on the subjects that we have discussed?

PARTICIPANT: I think the one thing for us I don’t know if some of you have used it, but it

just you have met some Sunrise buddies and just using them as just sort of something when you

want to bounce something off and your thinking and just to be able to kind of engage because

you don’t have that coach anymore, and then having someone who has been through the training

is human, [unclear segment] so it helps to maybe keep the network because if your don’t use the

things and that is the thing sometimes I think I should have gone back to my little guy and should

have handled this differently and just being able to make sometimes when something material

enough to bounce off another Sunrise buddy and just get through your thinking obviously so

listening more, but yes…

INTERVIEWER: So touching base could be helpful?

PARTICIPANT: Because you need to keep it alive once you are on your own [speaking

simultaneously]

PARTICIPANT: It’s supposed to be continued coaching after Sunrise.

PARTICIPANT: I think doing more one on one.

PARTICIPANT: I’ve got a question and I’m sure if you can answer but I have always

struggled with I would love to use analogies more I would like to use… but I just struggle to get

to that point so that somebody sort of gets what you are saying in a different way, but a way that

they are more accustomed to or more acceptable receptive to that outcome or… I just started to

get to the analogy what type of analogy can I use…

PARTICIPANT: Spend more time with me I use analogy all the time. I don’t know if that is

the way of thinking because I’ve got a pragmatic approach or my creative side is not there, or I

need to spend a little more time I am not sure, do you have an opinion on that?

PARTICIPANT: You know that I am not a professional coach so I will not pretend to be

somebody who I am not but I would definitely put this question further to my supervisor of

Thesis as one of the questions that came up. We’ve finished thank you guys.

FOCUS GROUP 3

INTERVIEWER: We are the 28th of October at Chevron Refinery. First of all, I would like to

ask you if you have any general remarks on the coaching programme you went through?

Anything that comes to your mind, before we go to concrete questions? What you have learnt,

what you remember from it, what was positive, negative about that experience? I would like you

to also speak about anything that could be.

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PARTICIPANT: Okay.

INTERVIEWER: We are here to speak about any impressions that you could have got.

PARTICIPANT: I think it was a very good program, it was the first time actually I experienced

coaching, so it was good in a sense that it enforced self-reflection, it enforced how you come

across and why people react the way they do when you come across like that. It enforces

thinking back, look back just for yourself to say how did I handle that or would I handle it better.

It enforces getting, seeking feedback, it’s hard to get constructive feedback or negative feedback

but what it taught me personally was feedback is not totally wrong or it’s not totally a bad thing

and we can choose out of the negative feedback what to take and what not to take. It doesn’t

necessarily mean just because you get negative feedback all of it is for you, you can just sift

through that. So it taught me to accept feedback, to seek feedback, to self-correct, just work on

me basically things that are under my control.

PARTICIPANT: Ja. I think that goes for me and as well it, I think it taught me not to react to

situation but to respond to situation. So there is big difference between the two because

obviously when someone gives you feedback whether it is constructive or whatever, you out up

your guard and you want to respond and in your mind already you have got stuff to like to kind

of respond to that person back. So it’s, ja, it taught me not to react to situation rather to respond.

Ja, that was what’s good for me.

INTERVIEWER: Can I just ask you to elaborate? What exactly you mean by react and

respond?

PARTICIPANT: So sometimes when someone gives you feedback let’s say so I think the

coaching is its, it teaches you to kind of, you plan for your feedback right but not everybody has

been through that so some people they just go into your office and then they just give you

feedback. So obviously you are going to, like when a person in talking, you are going to think in

your mind that what am I supposed, what am I going to say back to this person and you want to

protect yourself right, so you kind of build that guide. So now ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: So this is this reactive approach?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, the reactive approach. So now with the coaching you, need to kind of

avlant to listen to the person and then to understand where its coming from. And I don’t even

respond at that moment because I need to kind of internalise and see and then afterwards then I

will kind of note my stuff and then respond.

INTERVIEWER: So you will take your time and take a step back?

PARTICIPANT: Ja.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

BENNY: Ja similar to me, what it taught me was I can influence what happens around me and

when I get feedback, I listen and I try to internalise and use it to improve myself. So from what I

learnt was, there is constructive but all the feedback is to your advantage whether it’s you like it

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or you don’t like it. If you don’t like it, you will learn what you change about yourself too in

your interactions. So I learnt to listen more.

INTERVIEWER: That’s very interesting. Guys, could you tell me something about building

relationships? Do you think that SLP has influenced building relationships? Has it influenced

collaborative work, group cohesion, team work, in any way and if so in which way?

PARTICIPANT: So I would say it actually did in that now because you don’t react you listen

and try to understand where people are coming from and try to be accommodative while you are

still you know prioritising your interest and you get that collaborative sense that we are not

fighting one another. I hear where you are coming from, how can I accommodate the one person

but at the same time make sure that what I want does happen. So you have got that skill now,

that ability of just listening to the person you know trying to ask you probing questions and make

sure that you are, make sure that he or she notices that you are aware of their concerns, address

their concerns but at the same time still push your agenda to make sure that whatever it is that

you need to needs to happen, happens and you come out of that with a win win situation

basically. So I think it doesn’t because you are quite aware of other people’s interests not just

about me, it’s about this person it’s about other people as well in the group. So I do think it just

opens up your mind to say this is just not about me, it’s about everybody else’s interests. Let’s

come out of this with a common understanding and common agreement. So I think it has done

that for me.

INTERVIEWER: And you?

BENNY: Ja they had a module specifically on building trust. So what’s good with that when

people react in a different way you may find that somehow, there is something that you could

have done or you can do to rebuild their trust. So, it helps you to always be on the lookout, what

is my contribution to this situation, what can I do better, what can I improve. So you are not

always so you are not always on the defensive in the past I would be defensive, I fight back and I

but now, take that step back and say okay, maybe there is something that I did wrong or

something that I could do in a different way. So in that way, it was good.

PARTICIPANT: Ja and I think the other thing that, in terms of building relationships,

sometimes you are this person that everybody goes to when they want something done right and

they know it’s going to get done and sometimes you lack on other stuff and you don’t treat like

let’s say situations the same. So I think what it helped me was to be able to say fine, I

understand, you want me to do this but I can’t now can we negotiate better like the time that I

will be able to give you your deliverables. Because I have got other priorities So now people are

able to see that you, you are not missing your deadlines because you are kind of taking

everything now they are able to trust that okay, if I go to ... [inaudible] we can be able to

negotiate and then but I know that I will get my deliverable. So I think then people get to trust

and yes to know that you will deliver.

INTERVIEWER: So do you think it influenced a your flexibility?

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PARTICIPANT: It did, it did. Because I think previously I was not able to say no, I can’t do

this now I will just take it and somehow figure it out and scrub around and try to do something

for someone... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: So you would take it on yourself?

PARTICIPANT: I would take it on myself, yes and then struggle with it but now…

INTERVIEWER: At your own expense?

PARTICIPANT: At my own expense but now I am able to say I am busy to, one to five I have

got other priorities so can we negotiate, when can I deliver this for you and, so ja.

INTERVIEWER: So also a question of assertivity?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Because you are able to say not now, later.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I am not saying no but I am saying not now but later so ja, so the

negotiating part. So it builds a relationship with people because now you are not missing your

deadlines because they know at least you have said not this date but on that date. And then yes,

so

INTERVIEWER: Does it ring a bell?

PARTICIPANT: Ja. ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: What (…) is saying?

PARTICIPANT: And on the other side as well when you are getting resistance you are able to

negotiate those to say I can understand you are quite busy now, will it work for next week you

know, it opens up a mind to those options that you are giving somebody else you know options

rather than saying I want this and I want it now. And especially if you have got people that

report to you, you need to then to know, to make sure that they understand that they have got

priorities competing, competing priorities but at the same time there is something else that needs

to be done can you negotiate, can you make a plan. So ja.

INTERVIEWER: I would like to talk about courageous conversations… It might ring a bell.

Do you think that those who went through coaching are able to communicate any concerns in the

clearer way, to express themselves straight forwardly in front of their managers and in case of

managers, do they have better understanding of the issues within their team?

PARTICIPANT: So it’s hard to speak on behalf of other people because I think we received it

in different ways and I think with the coaching you also need as I say its staff awareness and it’s

a journey, it’s not easy to unlearn the whole how many years of life you have had and now all of

a sudden with this mirrored person. But I do think it with that self-awareness and with planning

when we are going to have those courageous conversations you may need to do that. You can’t

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just soon into somebody’s office and you know, you need to plan and say this is probably going

to be a touchy conversation how do we approach it. What kind of questions that I need to do, if

you do that, it felt for me I see it helps but obviously it depends on the other person how they get

the message from you because they have never been to Sunrise and so they probably, it’s not

easy to receive feedback regardless of how you put it, you much you prepare? Some people still

struggle receiving it. But I do think at least it puts a positive spin because from your approach

you are not coming out negative, you have prepared for that. So I do think on the whole, I do

think once you prepare it, it actually ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: Lolo, you mentioned something that was mentioned in another focus group

that I find very interesting. Namely this difference between those who went through the

programme and those who didn’t go through the program and the fact of a certain level of

frustration on the side of those who went through the program when talking to those who don’t

know the “coaching” vocabulary, who don’t have this background. Does it ring a bell? For

example you would be talking with somebody who did not go through the program and you have

an impression that you have a completely different approach, a completely different level of

understanding of the situation you are in.

PARTICIPANT: I think it’s more difficult when its report like it’s my Supervisor. I think it’s

easier when its colleagues or the people that report to me. When it’s your supervisor and you are

trying to enforce those kind of things it’s very frustrating. Because now you ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: The Supervisor who wouldn’t go through the program for example.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, he wasn’t in the program because now, you have got different ways of

doing things of thinking, you ask questions, you challenge the questions, not in a bad way but all

of a sudden I mean where you are coming from ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: There is a change of pattern on behaviour.

PARTICIPANT: Exactly and I don’t think they appreciate that change and I don’t think maybe

they get warned that wow, there is going to be a difference and this difference is not necessarily

a bad thing, embrace it. Just learn from that experience. So I do think there is a bit of frustration

from that side. I am not sure what your experiences are.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think guys?

PARTICIPANT: Well I had two supervisors that have gone through so I think when I had to

have a courageous conversation with the other one, because he has gone through sunrise. So I

think at first he kind of went the defensive way but then he realised the ... [interjects]

PARTICIPANT: The self-reflection.

INTERVIEWER: Ja, the self-reflection and then I could see there was that standing back and

then later where he said I think he had to say it and whatever. But I think I understand Lolo’s

where, if its someone who is higher up who hasn’t gone through because I think I have been also

been asking questions like giving feedback to people even my supervisor’s supervisor. So it’s

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like they really don’t understand and it’s frustrating so, but ja, I mean you just have to take it,

when it happens.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think?

PARTICIPANT: For me for those courageous conversations, the key thing that I learned was

preparing upfront for it. So like in the past I would just go before I was unhappy, I would budge

in and make ... [inaudible] case and you end up going different directions. But now you realise

that you need to prepare for this conversation. You can anticipate in your planning what the other

person might say and then you come up with a way to work around that. So, for me if you have

planned properly, even if someone has not been to the program you can still approach them for

those courageous it will still work.

INTERVIEWER: And the fact that you can anticipate come from the fact that you know the

person or from the fact that the program has given a certain number of tools ... [interjects]

PARTICIPANT: It’s both. When you know the person that you are dealing with, you can

already indeed anticipate. So it’s both, you know the person and the program also has given that

... [inaudible]. Of course if someone you have never met before, it might be difficult. But I

think if you go through those character notations, it’s because you have had some interaction

with the person before. So you have some idea of that.

INTERVIEWER: Clearly. What about the empowerment. Do you feel personally more

empowered in your work? As you said, you are more assertive… Do you think it influences the

empowerment in the work environment?

PARTICIPANT: It actually does and I think it is a journey. So you start off also learning about

yourself and you know we also felt that some of the things that you ask and then get used to this

thing because you have to participate and you also need to you know have productive kind of

interactions with people. So I do think it has done that, I am no longer afraid, I don’t, not that I

don’t care but I want to make sure that what my view is known, I want to make sure that I have

got input if, I do have I am not the kind of person who is going to talk for the sake of talking.

But if I have got input, I want it to be known. If I have got a view, I want it to be known. So its

empowered me not to be afraid, it doesn’t matter who is there, whether it’s the CEO whether it’s

the GM, if I have got a view, I put that up because and I think it’s the true therapy. Previously I

probably think five times before I do that many times I will be like no, actually it’s not that.

INTERVIEWER: You would refrain?

PARTICIPANT: Now, I don’t. If I feel strongly about something, I speak about it and I make

it very known and I know that the feedback that I get from people I think they get a bit, I am not

sure whether it’s in, not intimidated because its senior people that I am talking about. But I think

they know that I am going to challenge it, I don’t just let things slide. It doesn’t matter whether

they end up still doing whatever they are going to do, but I make sure that you know I challenge,

I ask questions and as a result a person comes prepared they don’t just come and tell me this is

what is going to happen in this. I will ask questions, I will ask if they have looked and other you

know options and whether they have seen the various risks and how are they going to mitigate

for those risks because it’s a possibility. So it makes them think I have influenced lot and I have

98

changed some decisions. So I do think it actually, for me, it really did work and I am still work

in progress, self-reflection because it’s, I acknowledge it’s a journey, it’s not something that you

can just do overnight. I learn from you know other people that have been there to see Vuseko

doing something or saying something like wow, I would actually like to use that you know next

time I am faced with something similar. So it helps in that way.

INTERVIEWER: And do you have any impression that as you have this different approach,

that people will come to you now, they come better prepared? You said that you require them

you know to justify, to explain, you ask questions. Do you think it changed the approach of

colleagues that would be interacting with you? Would they be justifying their actions for

example instead of just imposing them and saying this is the way we are going to do things?

PARTICIPANT: Ja. I think that they do and I also it also helps in that people don’t just do

things because they don’t know whether it’s going to hold them accountable. It helps in that it

hold us accountable, we all have to be accountable at some point for our actions. So it also helps

in that people now know there are things that they can’t do which they used to get away with

because nobody asked about it, nobody challenged them. It’s not an easy thing but in my room,

my room is more influencing because I can’t force people to do stuff but I can influence them, I

can show them the risks, I can show them the process. Having done all of that and they still

insist there is nothing much I can do.

INTERVIEWER: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: But I think I have seen a change in that people are more respected, they are

open and in fact they seek my opinion, somebody is going to come and say this is what I am

thinking of doing, this is why I am thinking of doing it so what do you think. And, ja that kind

of respect as well that people respect your opinion and they understand where you are coming

from because I am also just doing my job, I am not doing what Lolo will be doing, it is my job to

make sure that we do things the right way.

PARTICIPANT: Ja. I think for me in terms of power its empowered me to so, if I need to

probably ask people for something, I aways ask myself those questions that I think people would

ask. So I go there prepared knowing that when I present and whatever, I don’t expect any

questions so I try and poke myself to ask those questions. They would ask this, have you thought

of that, have you thought of that. So I always try and do those thing and I think the other

empowerment I got from the coaching is before I would have never have given my supervisor

feedback or have the courageous conversation because of like whatever, he is a supervisor so

what and whatever whatever. So I will kind if be frustrated with whatever that I felt he has done

wrong or he should have done and then I will deal with it my own way then I will get over it, ja

but now I mean I am able to get that feedback because I know how to prepare for it and I know

like you know so I have got the tools now to be able to do it so.

INTERVIEWER: Do you wish to... [interjects]

PARTICIPANT: It’s like they say it’s a journey. What I have learnt is not, it’s not a magic

wand that you can bill to the program now you are up there. But the good thing the programme

is, they tell you it’s a journey, so you work towards, you keep ... [inaudible] practising. You

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keep on in the situations where you would normally not raise your opinion, now you start

deliberately, intentionally doing it. But it is a journey, it’s not something that we just be perfect

on day one.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think that it has a potential to change the job satisfaction? In any

direction?

PARTICIPANT: I think so, I think so because I think most frustrations for employees is not

having people hearing them, not having heard, not being able to hear the voice, not yes and also

not being able to have a voice because they are afraid to have an opinion, they are afraid to once

that happens you know that even if that person doesn’t do it, at least they know how I feel. It

does make a little bit of a change in terms of how you feel as a person generally. So I do think

yes, it will have an impact.

PARTICIPANT: Then another impact is now you will deliberately go out to influence your

position, your job that okay, I must do this job and then it will ... [inaudible] to support me. You

go out to them, you are not, scared of confronting them, you are prepared, you know who can

assist you to be more effective in that position. So, I believe it will definitely assist with the job

satisfaction, yes.


PARTICIPANT: No, no thank you.

INTERVIEWER: We have two more subjects to look over so we are definitely going to be on

time.

PARTICIPANT: Okay.

INTERVIEWER: I would like to ask you about creative thinking. Do you think that this kind

of program has an influence and if so, what kind of influence? What I mean by creative thinking

is for example when you face a problem you come with innovative solutions. You think out of

the box? You probably dare propose something that you know is a little bit outside the standard

way of acting let’s put it that way, this is what I mean by thinking out of the box.

PARTICIPANT: I think for me I have been someone who kind of play with ideas and I will

say this idea. But I think after the coaching I am kind of, I think more about the idea right, I just

don’t say let’s do this and then I am like okay so how do we do it. So now I think after this

coaching I am, as I said, I ask myself these questions, why this idea how am I going to do it and

then I try and get as more information as I can. Instead of just saying, how about we do

something and then I say okay so how will we go about doing it and then we are like okay. I will

still think about it. So even if I have got an idea at that moment, I won’t say because, I won’t say

let’s do this and then I don’t have more information on the idea. So I will kind of, even if I say it

afterwards and then email to say I have got this idea and I think this is how we are going to can

we go about doing it. So I get more information now before I can present my ideas.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

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PARTICIPANT: No for me it’s also asking around for opinion, for, just as more questions

from others so they come up, their own opinion.

INTERVIEWER: So it will be consulting the colleagues?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: It’s not only my opinion, so I try to involve others in that decision making.

So you do get to get solutions that you never thought of when you ask. So what I meant was ask,

ask ask.

PARTICIPANT: And over and above what ... [inaudible] and Vuseko have mentioned that

asking and also getting others used, more listening to just listen you know in that sponge that’s

just listening to other people’s views, listen to other people’s way of doing things. But coming

back to the creativity part, I do think yes, it has given me that new way of, because I mean it’s

how you need to resolve issues so you have got an issue, you have a way that you have always

been used to resolve the issue. Is there any other way that we can resolve this or is there any

other way we can meet each other halfway to resolve this that’s a way of, that’ for me is

creativity and also we have processes, I own processes is finding ways of doing flexibility within

the processes, without breaking the rules and the laws but just finding flexibility within that. I

saw that working a lot, because you are saying we have got a process that says this and we

cannot go over this. But you know what, within this, this is what we can do, that’s low risk and I

think it hasn’t been a lot of them and the newly found voice that I have now where I am not

afraid to test that to other people to have my views and my opinions, I do think it’s given me

light.

INTERVIEWER: So you are talking about interpretation of rules? There is rules and then the

way you interpret that depends very much on the people that you have around the table. So you

will be more daring to say: these things can also be seen that way?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Sometimes people say: why do we do it that way…, well because we always

work out this way.

PARTICIPANT: Ja.

INTERVIEWER: So this is more or less the situation that you would be referring to?

PARTICIPANT: Ja.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, perfect. And last question. If you are in touch within your respective

departments with other units, with contractors, with sub-contractors with other parties around, do

you have any impression that, let’s call it, customer service has improved or has there been any

influence on the customer service following the program? Do you understand my question?

PARTICIPANT: Maybe explain a little bit.

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INTERVIEWER: So say that you have somebody like another unit or another department of

your company that you are serving. So everybody is working together… the way you serve them

has it changed or has it been influenced in any way?

PARTICIPANT: I think it has because remember the previous examples were mentioned or

collaboration of that, its collaborating of other people not necessarily the people that you work

with, the customers that you serve. So I do think that new found respect for example where if

people are coming for assistance they come prepared or if they have got you know decided the

main decision and some of them they come prepared in terms of why they made that decision

and the impact it’s going to have. I do think it depends to a certain extend but yes I think it has

because I mean those are the people that we interact with on a day to day basis. Our job requires

us to work, my job and Vuyiseko’s job I am not sure about you ... [inaudible] we have got we are

serving people, customers, we have got customers that we serve, yes.

INTERVIEWER: You do.

PARTICIPANT: So I do think in the interactions that we have, it has made a difference.

PARTICIPANT: I think for me it has, yes, it has changed in the sense that before, someone

will come to you with something I need this done then I will never ask why and then probably

someone will say can you help us with this and I will say okay I will help but now I think I will

ask the question why do we need to do it what’s happening so I need more information.

INTERVIEWER: What’s the objective here, right?

PARTICIPANT: Yes so I think now people they come prepared to say Vuyi we need to help

this is happening this is what what so I will kind of get all that information before I even ask for

it because of the way I have been probing to say you want to do to this why do you want to do

this what happening? Have you done it before? What’s the learning there is that probing that I

been doing to people especially contractors because they just come and say we need this signed

we need this done so I am saying why? So I am saying what’s happening give me information so

now they come prepared with all that information because they know I am going to ask those

questions.

INTERVIEWER: I read assertiveness in what you are saying.

PARTICIPANT: Yes ja

INTERVIEWER: OK.

PARTICIPANT: Me it has the term that I support in the past when they always come to me

with questions and I give answers answers now what has changed when they come to question it

I probe some more, ask some more questions they end up coming with a solution themselves

now you find out that is no creativity on their part they are getting the job done without involving

me to in to much detail with the new contractors. But what it has changed in the fact that I am

actually no longer stressing that I am not going to like what going to happen now I am getting

the results I am even contributing most of my time in it. ... [inaudible] in that way there is a

difference.

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PARTICIPANT: I found out that my meeting is at half past nine so I am okay, I am not sure

about.

PARTICIPANT: Mine is at nine.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

PARTICIPANT: Maybe they should tell you first and then I will ask.

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Is there anything that you would like to add guys?

PARTICIPANT: Okay, what I can add before I leave. The sunrise we had this theoretical and

we had one on one coaching which was great. With what I have discovered it was over 18

months for me maybe it’s just me the, I think it will be more effctive if after you have completed

the training maybe sometime ... [inaudible] then you have got all the theory then the application

to get some support even for a few months.

INTERVIEWER: So like a follow up or a possibility to touch base every now and then?

PARTICIPANT: Yes maybe 3 or 4-months after

INTERVIEWER: You are not the first who says it.

PARTICIPANT: I feel the same but I think what I can say about the coaching as well it’s it

helped me at work but I think I have used it more at home though.

INTERVIEWER: Is it?

PARTICIPANT: Ja I did so ja

INTERVIEWER: But is it also, does it also go the way that you have presented it here or it is a

completely different part that you will be using at home?

PARTICIPANT: It’s completely different but I mean even at home now I don’t really react to

some situations that happened I just look at them like this is not worth my time I must just I will

deal with this later on I need to think about it not just to react because something happened.

INTERVIEWER: So you will be choosing your battles actually?

PARTICIPANT: So Ja now I am choosing my battles at home like this one is like it’s not the

way I think before getting worked up over it but I mean before I would whatever whatever. So I

would be stressed at home then I come to work and then there is some stress at work but now I

feel like when I get home I am free

INTERVIEWER: So you are be able to let it go more easily?

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PARTICIPANT: I am able to let it go more easily I am like you know what they are doing that

it’s okay I will deal with that later on with when I have time whatever so I just let it go

sometimes so.

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything that you would like to add?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I think it’s similarly to what they have mentioned the follow up that for

me it’s not even after 3 months just having that person who can bounce off things once in a while

even if you are given so many instances and you know you have used the one and then there is a

big thing coming up and you just want somebody to bounce off things and then you have got an

option to go to that person and you know to happen whether I am not necessarily a sad thing

that’s says after three months because I think after that you need to apply it you need to learn to

apply it because it is a journey but you need prep those know those touch points once in a while

indication would help

INTERVIEWER: So what I read is a follow up and probably also more practice on the

foundation of the theory that is given throughout the programme.

BENNY: Yes, it was saying that after the programme you had a graduation day it was after

graduation day some month afterwards to still ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: Thank you very much guys.

PARTICIPANT: All right

INTERVIEWER: Very much appreciated.

PARTICIPANT: Thank you thank you.

FOCUS GROUP 4

INTERVIEWER: We are the 28th October. It’s 10h10. We are at Chevron Headquarters and

we going to discuss the Sunrise Leadership Program. Before we start with any precise subject, I

would like to ask you guys to share any kind of observations that come to your mind concerning

the coaching program you went through, anything that comes to your mind.

PARTICIPANT: It had a very positive impact on my life so I did it five years ago and I

have benefitted greatly from having that session for 18 months it was tough, but it was good the

outcome of it was good afterwards.

INTERVIEWER: If you were to mention three most important aspects that you got out as

you said you benefitted greatly… Could you mention those three aspects that are the most

important for you.

PARTICIPANT: The self awareness around how I react towards others and how I respond

to others so that was big for me just being more aware of that and how my body language

impacted communication within the office environment. But, also, just from a personal

perspective it helped me just unpack some kind of maybe mental blocks that I used to have.

INTERVIEWER: Anybody else?

PARTICIPANT: For me I appreciated that when I had done previous courses or leadership

programs before which was very focused on career and in a very structured manner.

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INTERVIEWER: Before SLP?

PARTICIPANT: Not this one. But this one for me it was holistic because it really looked at

you as an individual but also all of you and it wasn’t only just on this part that is your work, it

really looked at all of and different facets and really highlighted where one thing if I might have

put something in a box over here somewhere else, it actually impacts my career as well and vice

versa so I appreciated that and even though there was structure in terms of we would have two

days, one day would be say a classroom session where you discuss a topic and coach in circles, it

was never hard and fast like previous courses I had done, the facilitators or the coaches there

would work with who was in the room and what was present there so it wasn’t necessary the

formula that was cut and paste and this is what we will go through, whatever was in the room

that needed to be explored, was explored to so for me those were two… this is what made it so

different for me compared to others courses I had been on before.

INTERVIEWER: The holistic approach?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Anybody else would like to add something?

PARTICIPANT: For me, it was about introducing coaching as a formal leadership the

technique that you use that I still use today so when I am faced with a problem thinking about it

in that way if a team member has a problem or needs to work through something I still very

much refer to the Sunrise techniques I sometimes even make notes according to the templates

that we were given and stuff like that to help me through difficult conversations coaching

conversations and that is something that I have learnt that I can take with me far into the future

because I still practice it regularly.

INTERVIEWER: Can we talk about building relationships? I would like to ask you what

according to you was SLP’s influence on collaborative work, team spirit and the group cohesion?

PARTICIPANT: Are you talking about like in the broader organization?

INTERVIEWER: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: I find I don’t know if this is answering your question, but I find that

people that you at Sunrise with you kind of have a bond with them so if you it’s just like an

understanding almost that you meet up with someone they going to work with someone that went

through Sunrise with you there is always that history that share history. I don’t deal with a lot of

people from the refinery but the people from the refinery that were on Sunrise with us, always

have special relationships I bumped into two of them last week when I went to the refinery for a

meeting and it’s always like “hi, how are you?” and the catching up with them, whereas before I

wouldn’t have had a relationship with them other than just on an occasional basis bumping into

them.

INTERVIEWER: So it helped creating a bond?

PARTICIPANT: It helped creating bonds that stretched beyond the actual program that you

still find today.

INTERVIEWER: But, do you think that these bonds were typical for this particular type of

training or could it have happened in any kind of work frame that you would get?

PARTICIPANT: I think it’s a lot of it this particular time because especially in your

coaching circle the degree to which you made yourself vulnerable and exposed yourself and

really opened up and where other people opened up and shared with you it had that kind of

almost enforced intimacy into that, but along with that, what was necessary to that was trust and

so that trust doesn’t just go away because the program ended and I think that’s what is kind of

still carrying us forward.

105

INTERVIEWER: So shall I understand that it positively influenced trust? Does it apply to

mentioned people who went through the program? And if we talk about the company I mean I

guessed that there are quite a couple of people that have not gone through this program. Has it

changed relationships with those people in any way?

PARTICIPANT: For me it changed how I relate to people so I think it has that kind of

impact, but also when people as year different people go through it and now you almost are able

to have a different conversation with them so if I think as my team I think we were kind of in the

first group that did it, and it was a different way of thinking and of being, but as more people

have gone on the program you could almost have… there are certain catch phrases or things that

because you have been on the program that person understands it and then there has even been

shifts with me and other people now I see what you were trying to do here, or there is just more

of an understanding because once you go through the program yourself you understand about

making requests and you understand about all those kinds of topics that we covered you

understand it in a different way so it’s a larger community almost of having that kind of

understanding.

INTERVIEWER: So globally can you say that it facilitated communication that it improved

communication between you and colleagues?

PARTICIPANT: Yes I would say so.

INTERVIEWER: Regardless whether they went to the program or not?

PARTICIPANT: I think from my perspective in terms of how I would because it forces you

to really reflect and think about how you present yourself and how you respond to something and

because of that, so then my interaction with others would be changed by that and a part reflection

after sometimes… sometimes I would still fall back and still do, fall back almost into old ways

but then at least through reflection you kind of think no, no, but there is a different way and

when you re-approach the subject with someone just using those tools again and coming back

and falling back into old patterns.

INTERVIEWER: So would this kind of taking a step back and reflecting a bit more before

the act be one of the outcomes?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, for me I mean for everybody it is different.

PARTICIPANT: It is and I think that what it does, it opens your eyes as to how important it

is to have a relationship in a working environment because you have to have the trust, you have

to have different conversations and how you view that person and you interact with that person is

important, so for me, I tried harder to make sure that when I am within my team and with my

colleagues that I am not only just focused on work, it’s about making them feel more at ease,

communicating and just opening yourself up to being present in that environment rather than just

come and have a meeting and get to it and leave. So for me it definitely opened up my eyes to the

fact that to have the relationship is important within the work environment because it helps

collaboration and communication and that.

PARTICIPANT: And I would also say it also helped as a tool for communication because I

remember I mean my previous manager had not gone to Sunrise, I mean he has been a sponsor

obviously he has been on the… but I wanted to have a courageous conversation with him, but

then I also knew that he wouldn’t know what I am trying to do, so I then said I want to have a

courageous conversation with you, but I will first educate you on how that goes and then I

explained to him but by the time we had the conversation actually it wasn’t anymore because

obviously he kind of knew what I am trying to put across and what I am trying to practice and he

was also open to okay, I must guard my reaction when you have this courageous conversation so

106

that I ensure that I get you. So I think to me it was a tool more than even for people that have got

in [unclear 0:10:08] team when I want to practice something I will say you know I have been on

Sunrise I want to practice this thing and so bear with me and then I would explain to them what I

am going to be trying so that at least they can catch it and number two, they can give me some

feedback if there is a way of improving. So I think using it as a tool definitely has helped in

terms of communication in that collaboration.

INTERVIEWER: Were the colleagues who were not participating in the program open to

you saying: I’m going to practice now… I guess it requires courage to say to your superior: I will

educate you before I tell you what I want to tell you.

PARTICIPANT: I think I just want to say it would depend on the person I just know that

the boss I had is a very open minded and he is open to trying things, and to me that whole thing

of saying to him I will educate you already it made him excited because he wanted to know what

is this about and that and when he actually understood what I was trying to do and I finally had

the conversation now that was supposed to be courageous it was more and in the discussion we

were like oh am I doing it alright, am I responding right are we meeting you goal and we

achieving what you are setting up. So I suppose you also have to know your [unclear 0:11:58]

with the team I mean the fact that you honest enough to be vulnerable to them and say I am

trying this it actually plays a bit of excitement you will hear the music some of the terms or you

will sometimes jokingly in saying like in the beginning you mentioned let’s check him because

you introduced that, so I think people are open it depends on how obvious you into this. I mean if

you say you try because it is not like you are suddenly a certified coach to say I want to try these

techniques they usually open.

INTERVIEWER: And what do you think?

PARTICIPANT: I did mine 2015/16 so…

INTERVIEWER: So you are very fresh?

PARTICIPANT: So the I think the first insight that I got out of when I think of Sunrise is it

prints an idea that you will understand your surroundings you understand yourself so we come to

a place like Chevron you see people doing things, people do work, people talk, people relay,

people share information but everybody seems to be busy so you try to fit there and you try to

understand what [unclear 0:13:20] are doing what are the colleagues are doing but you don’t

understand yourself. So when these courses come again you will pause and stop understand

yourself then you will understand where you fit into the rest of the organization how others work

and that’s where all those it became the building block okay this is how to build relationships

that’s how to collaborate, that’s how you make requests, this is how you speak up if you need to

or this is how you let other people… but it was more like I can only understand myself first, then

I would understand where people are coming from within the tool that they use from the very

first module was this [unclear 0:14:00] structure of interpretation so once that was embedded in

my that we all interpret things differently it became easy for me to be aware so when we do these

things or when we work like this, when we talk like this or when we behave like this, this is

where different people are coming from and the way I react or respond because this is where I

am coming from so I do understand where there is a conflict or I do understand where… so

therefore it gave me a tool to say okay, this is how I can avoid conflict, this is how I can avoid

being misunderstood because I’ve got a base of understanding that they come from a different

place where I come from so it became a tool for me to be build to understand where I fit into the

position but even where others fit into my role in the organization.

107

INTERVIEWER: So now do you have an impression that you know yourself better you

understand better yourself and your structure of interpretation?

PARTICIPANT: Yes and it’s also in so far as where are the people coming from so I would

understand when somebody says this is why I disagree with you then I would say okay, I still

need to build a relationship with this person but we had the conflict of understanding on this

issue so therefore I had to go back and say, does it require me to have a trade off or to make a

promise and say okay I understand where we differ on this, but this is what I promise you to do

in return for… to win your support on this so I am aware there is a lot that lies on me first as

compared to burden other people to serve me in an organization so I think the question also you

asked how do people who probably haven’t been to the program react to people who have been

in the program. I found because the onus is always on me is only the problem it becomes less of

than how they work because they will also read my signal what signal I am saying to them and

then they can respond to that. If I am sending a signal of imposing my own interpretation on

them they [unclear 0:16:12] impose theirs. But, if I am showing acceptance of where they come

from then it is easy for them to accept where I come from so we always have to find that middle

ground when there is a conflict but I found it in most cases because I had been in a program you

have that one step of self awareness you can anticipate.

INTERVIEWER: In what you said, I have noticed you saing: I’m going to give this in

exchange of that.

PARTICIPANT: Which is one of the tools you would give them but making sure you

collaborate with the people… because I said people come [unclear 0:16:50 some of them

understand specifically their roles and some of them understand their roles broader so because

they understand their roles differently other people need to know what is in for me in order for

me to collaborate with you on these… so you go to anticipate other people just once work for

themselves, other people want to work for the greater good of the organization. But, both of them

are right.

INTERVIEWER: I would continue our conversation around courageous conversation. What

is your perception on, in case you were in a direct report role, on voicing your concerns with

your superiors and, in case you were a manager role, understanding better the issues within the

team? I guess that many of us are usually in both roles depending in relation to whom, so I guess

that probably you could treat both, but please interpret the question the way you prefer. I would

like to hear on your opinion on courageous conversation.

PARTICIPANT: It takes a lot of courage.

PARTICIPANT: That is always the thing for me it was still very tough even after I had the

tools to have the courageous conversations it was still very tough to come and have it with direct

supervisor because they had not been on the program also, so I wasn’t able to do their educating,

I would speak about it, but because for me Sunrise was very personal it actually had more

exactly to what you were saying it’s more about how I react you can’t control what they do, it

was more about my reaction that what I knew going into courageous conversations was that that

part wasn’t going to change and I needed to change, and I might not always get the outcome I

wanted because the person I am having the courageous conversation with might still react in

their own way so it just takes kind of continuing to do it, and then thinking about afterwards how

you felt about having the conversation that made it get better each time to have it because then

you build up your courage to have it, even if you don’t get the outcome you were looking for,

you are more confident in having the conversation.

INTERVIEWER: So practice makes perfect?

108

PARTICIPANT: Yes. And I think that is the key thing with this program because it is very

personal right, it is not about everybody comes in and you do the same tools all at the same time,

it’s about what you take out of it, what stuck with you, what you needed during that course to

help you, everybody had their own vulnerabilities coming into it, somebody wanted to get

different things out of it so if you don’t continue to use the tools, nobody else is going to push

you to use the tools, you have to continue to use it, it is very easy to slip back into bad behaviors

and to follow the norm of what is happening around you.

INTERVIEWER: Is it a very personal motivation that is needed to follow up on the program

and to practice the skills?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Because as far as I understand you do not have a kind of touch base every

now and then once the program is finished?

PARTICIPANT: It is finished.

INTERVIEWER: Anything to add?

PARTICIPANT: Well for me it was we kind of lived this theory one that was very or

touched me quite deeply was around this pinch point and until you thought that out, you would

always cycle back or things may appear okay, and there will always be… until you sort that issue

out you will always kind of come back to it. And so for me that is how the courageous

conversation leads in with that because you might appear that everything is fine but until you sort

that out then you going to come back and so I have seen it and over the years now that by having

those conversations you actually able to eradicate that issue and sometimes it is just how that

person there where they were coming from and where I was coming from and then have a

meeting of the minds, and really understand each other. So for me around courageous

conversations firstly just having them was a big thing for me because I would happily try

[unclear 0:21:04] issue and then the pinch point would come and that was one of the key

learning’s for me and I still use that today so it is actually just picking up and having that. And

often, the conversation it isn’t actually as hectic as I think it would be it is just in my own mind

building up all of this tension and stress and you actually have it and you have… once you have

that relationship also and people understand what your true intentions really are it just makes it

easier but I think picking up the courage and then getting rid of those pinch points that have

really been beneficial to me over the years.

INTERVIEWER: Has it helped you get out of some kind of vicious circle when you were

fixated on the problem, but not actually attacking or addressing it?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, definitely.

INTERVIEWER: Do you have anything to add to that?

PARTICIPANT: I think I have already mentioned for me, I think for me the fact that we

kind of went to some learning together kind of released the tension out because when it was

actually because I had to book a session for the educational part explaining what is expected and

then when we finally had I think there was very [unclear 0:22:22] to help me with the outcome

and the understanding that this needed courageous for myself so for that reason we were able…

so after that I could just say I’m booking a meeting it is courageous human relation and then we

could really fall into it. I think I still struggled with my team actually with my direct reports

because even though I tried to take them through the same process I think it’s where I needed to

work at because sometimes the level of maturity and other things are really important so I really

had to be the one that is understanding in those situations and also accept and be open to

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understand that even though is my intention we might just not end up where we are and try and

work around I think that is where I kind of find it…

PARTICIPANT: It’s an important point because I think that we have to be realistic about

the other person and what they are bringing into it. I even found instances where someone has

been through Sunrise and I expect to have a fantastic conversation or meeting of minds with that

person and it doesn’t happen. So just because I’ve been through Sunrise or hasn’t on the other

hand I have had fantastic conversations courageous conversations with people who have never

been through Sunrise not even in this country, that part of the Chevron organization elsewhere,

but you are able to have that conversation. So I think what you are saying, you can only take

responsibility for what you bring to try and meet that person half way, but sometimes you are

going knock your head… you going to come up against a brick wall because not everybody is

open enough to that level of conversation. And I remember when we were going through the

program even some people found it a stumbling block because we were encouraged to obviously

practice the tool and I remember people feeding back and saying that they were trying to do it

with their supervisors and they just weren’t able to break through and get that level of openness

so that is an ongoing challenge for us I think and that we can never force anybody else into that,

but how do we… what can we do on our side to kind of keep practicing keep trying to educate

etcetera. Because not everybody is taken to that sort of education and that is the reality I suppose.

PARTICIPANT: In fact, I have been told before don’t Sunrise me.

PARTICIPANT: That’s a new one.

PARTICIPANT: I’m like okay we going to have a conversation it’s like are you going to

Sunrise me… so I think to Jill’s point we were the first group that went through and it was… I

was frustrated because I did have a difficult group of people that I was working with at the time

and so I was frustrated because I would learn all these wonderful tools and I would get de-

motivated coming back into the work environment because nobody was on the same wave length

as me. But, as more people started doing Sunrise it did get easier because you would see that

there was a community but it is also to the point that not everybody took out of Sunrise what… I

mean they took out what they wanted… it was an individual take away what they had to put into

place and then I would have those type of situations where like don’t Sunrise me let’s just be real

about this conversation so it is about how you practice the tools more and I think collectively you

will see the impact when more people do it rather than see it like just all of a sudden.

INTERVIEWER: From what you said Jill I understand that courageous conversation you can

have with people who went through the program, but the fact that they went through the program

does not necessarily mean that you will always manage to have courageous conversations with

them as well as you can have them where people didn’t go through the program, but who just

have this kind of openness?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: So it’s a very personal thing how you go through this program and what

you take out of it. Anything to add guys?

PARTICIPANT: In my experience okay I am fairly new to the program so I wouldn’t have

the same experience as the other group has, but a little bit of what I have been able to experience

post Sunrise was being in the receiving end of the courageous conversation so meaning

somebody giving it to me. So my natural reaction prior to Sunrise I think would have been to be

defensive. So one of the things I think I have done two occasions probably got a feedback or

somebody being courageous enough to have a conversation with me. And one of the things that

I… I didn’t do it very well in the first conversation, because I think it was [unclear 0:27:30] now

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we are practicing this, but on the second conversation one of the things that I have learnt quickly

that is to always try to sit on another person’s shoes which is quite a very… I think that even

during the Sunrise training it was a very emotional one sitting or fitting another person’s shoes

especially when they are small they pinch you so you learn a little bit that people you have to see

where they are coming from and what you learn to deal when the courageous conversation

experience that I had, you learn to accept it and at least where they are coming from. So you

don’t need naturally to defend yourself and that became almost like a very useful tool to me but

to be aware that people who are courageous is to come and have a conversation with you, you

need to fit into their shoes and feel the discomfort that they are in coming to you within. So I am

very sensitive to the discomforts of other people when it comes to this [unclear 0:28:44] they do

naturally they are very uncomfortable hence I am uncomfortable to do it myself so I’m very

receptive to it because I know the discomfort that people go through.

INTERVIEWER: Could we talk about the engagement at work be it in your own case or in

the case of your colleagues? Do you think that going through coaching had an influence on an

engagement at work and your enthusiasm the energy that is put into work, the level of boredom

probably? I’m just giving you some examples how to approach the question, but please feel free

to approach it the way you prefer.

PARTICIPANT: For me I am not sure whether it answers the question but I have seen and

following on your point in terms of giving certain people feedback almost pre them being on the

program and post them being on the program it has been very different initially kind of

defensiveness and why… you trying to point out things that are wrong with me, but I am fine

and then through people having been on the program I have seen I mean there are certain

colleagues in your department for example that our relationship has completely changed and

should I provide feedback now they really understand the intention of where that feedback is

coming from and so the way we are able to work together now because they are more open and

so we are able to get through so many things in a much better way between our two departments

because of that for it is almost just a pre Sunrise and you see this transformation happening. And

I am not just saying it’s the person I interact with that person, but for me that has been if I think

of impact to the business that kind of working together and collaboration which wasn’t possible

before it is possible once both people have been answered by us. That has just been my

experience I’m thinking of a few people but it has been helpful to me in terms of a work context.

INTERVIEWER: Anybody would like to add something on engagement at work?

PARTICIPANT: I think post Sunrise I did more face to face communication and didn’t rely

on email as much because I felt more confident to do that.

INTERVIEWER: You are not the first person who says that.

PARTICIPANT: So I think that it was about being courageous to have the conversation and

understanding different perspectives so I didn’t just always type it up I would get up and go and

speak to the person or I would have a meeting face to face rather than hide behind email. That I

think changed the level of engagement that I had within my own team, my work environment

and with other colleagues as well.

PARTICIPANT: Then for me on the coaching level Chevron is a very data-centric

organization data is very important you can say something but you have to show so you get a lot

of credibility by showing data that’s the way Chevron understands its business. So engagement is

not naturally something that you have to do, if you can show it in numbers or you can present it

on a screen you can actually progress to other things, so it is not opportunities that engage are

very few so one of the things that Sunrise helped me to do, was to be face to face meaning before

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you send something to some people go and engage with them is this what they want… is this

their right interpretation of the information that is required especially when you report upwards

so you have to almost learn to speak to your colleagues more other than relying on email or a

slide of a graph because other people will understand, but that doesn’t mean that you have

engaged because you have presented data. So one of the things of engagement is that I learnt to

have the confidence to say although I hide behind the slide or [unclear 0:33:11] more confidence

in speaking.

INTERVIEWER: It’s like physical activity because you get up and go to see your collegues.

PARTICIPANT: For Chevron that is actually quite important it reduces the [unclear

0:33:27]

PARTICIPANT: Stress injuries because you are not typing.

PARTICIPANT: Because you are not typing so that is important.

INTERVIEWER: Anything that you would like to add on this subject?

PARTICIPANT: The interesting thing from my perspective is in my immediate team I’m

the only one who has been through Sunrise. I have amongst people reporting to me though, I’ve

got two people who out of their own have gone through coaching programs one is a certified

master coach and the other one is the way to getting there.

INTERVIEWER: They got organize completely outside the company? On the private level,

right?

PARTICIPANT: Yes. One is just the personal passion that she pursued the other one was as

a result of a previous organization. And what I do find though is that with those two individuals

it definitely makes a difference in the way we engage and the way we communicate so again, it

just brought home to me the style of leadership coach as a leader I think that is what Sunrise’s

[unclear 0:34:25] is. So again, it is not only about Sunrise it is about that openness or about

people who have practice that form that leadership because I can definitely see and now I am not

sure if it is because they have done the coaching thing or if it is because they were the kind of

people who would naturally pursue that it could be down to their personality or it could be down

to the training that they have had I’m not sure about that, but definitely makes a difference and

the quality of engagements their conversations that we can have because we have been through

that. And what we are trying to do… what we do then try to do is like we use those… because I

have seen them practice it on their peers around them sometimes sitting down and taking

someone aside and having a coaching conversation as peers has been working like naturally that

has been helping as well. So that again, to me it is further proof that this style of leadership that

Sunrise has kind of introduced us to does have benefits across the organization and it doesn’t

matter how you came about those qualifications or that learning, but bringing it into the

workplace make a big difference.

INTERVIEWER: I would like to talk about creative thinking. Finding solutions to problems,

thinking outside the box probably thinking in a way that would not be “business as usual”-like

but bringing another perspective to the table. Would you have any comments on this?

PARTICIPANT: For me if I think of my kind of pre Sunrise depending on the

circumstances I would be very directive in terms of how I would want things done and this is the

way it should be and I would be very kind of this is how someone will make me happy. And then

through Sunrise also a process not always 100% even today but it just allowed me to give others

the space to show what they could come up with, so not for me to be so prescriptive to always

presume that not presume that I know best, but this is the best way to tackle it, but just creating

that space and by asking the right types of questions also allow peoples thinking and creativity to

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come through and I must say recently I was surprised at the solution that came through

pleasantly surprised because in my mind in terms of this IT problem this was it, there was no

really clear solution and then two of the team members and even more junior team members

came up with this thing where they did their own testing and came and it was so great to see this

journey that I would like to think that we have all been on because we have worked together over

these few years and just to see how for about three years we worked together and my relationship

initially compared to where we are now or even they have that confidence to say, I know you are

thinking like this, because people always tell me we know how you think but here is something

different and so for me that is also being great because it is not just how I interact with the team,

but how they have also felt free to come up with other solutions where it may not have been the

logical or for me the easiest one to see at the time.

INTERVIEWER: So this openness that you have actually contributed to their

empowerment?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: You would empower them and you will tell them here guys you can bring

solutions actually for me they would be more courageous in bringing those [unclear 0:38:25]

PARTICIPANT: Exactly especially for the junior team members because I don’t know how

it is in other teams and organizations but there definitely is a sense of almost hierarchy and so it

is almost depending on…

INTERVIEWER: Is Chevron a very hierarchical organization?

PARTICIPANT: It depends which pocket you are in.

PARTICIPANT: I would say no because we also very flattered the same time I think

[unclear 0:38:45]

PARTICIPANT: I think it depends where you are.

PARTICIPANT: Some leaders prefer that style of leading but it is not a [speaking

simultaneously]

PARTICIPANT: It depends where you are and some people might feel because I am so

junior it’s okay I’m just going to do this and I will leave it to almost higher grades to sort it out

and so for me that has been great to see people in a… we call it PSG what does it stand for?

PARTICIPANT: Something your job grade.

PARTICIPANT: Those kind of people say… pay skills… they say irrespective where I am

in terms of that I can also come up with some… I don’t have to be bound by my pay skill grade

is and what is expected of me.

PARTICIPANT: My experience when it comes to creative thinking is that pre Sunrise if

you came to me with anything you wanted to bring to the table I would listen to it as a problem

that requires a solution so if I don’t have a solution then I don’t. If I do have a solution, I do. But,

what I found with the whole coaching circle that we did at Sunrise for the first time in that

coaching circle you learn to listen and just by listening you create more space and what I noticed

when you are listening in the beginning other people may notice that you are listening it takes a

while to realize that you are listening or what it does to them it allows more space actually to

think so you not drowning them with a solution. So because now you are listening it makes them

to think and a creative solution comes with the effect that they are aware that you are listening.

So by listening and also just making sure that you seeking clarity to them is it what I am

understanding you are… because now, you are giving feedback as well what do you try and

understand from a person it allows that creative thinking. You will find that as long people leave

you thinking that actually I came up with a solution to the issue that I brought to the person, so

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that is where I found creative solution of problem solving comes it is very much more about

being aware that first somebody is talking to you and you have to listen… is that when people

are listening that allows the [unclear 0:41:17]

INTERVIEWER: So attentive listening without seeking for solutions while the person is

speaking?

PARTICIPANT: Sometimes I have seen these things because they are not listening to each

other you getting involved in this conversation that goes on and on and all of a sudden at some

point because he might not have the [unclear 0:41:34] this is what I think you must do sometimes

it actually allows you to really pause and listen some [unclear 0:41:42] is saying something let

me listen that quietness gives another person this [unclear 0:41:47] so let me think to what I am

really it’s in my mind.

PARTICIPANT: I think coaching in a way forces the person who is being coached to think

because a lot of the times they do come thinking you going to give them the answer and so they

don’t think and I found that that was a little bit hard at first I would just be sitting and waiting

and waiting you say like well what would you do… what did you do differently or if you had to

deal with this problem how would you do it and they haven’t thought so it’s like muscle that you

have to kind of have to start using here and train to get creative thinking going and then you will

get more of it. It’s about continuing to do the coaching because people are used to certain styles

and how you think so you open up the environment for creative thinking through that.

PARTICIPANT: But, I think it also goes the other way around because when you go into a

conversation with someone your supervisor or whatever it has taught me to also have thought

through because while you going to look for advice you need to also have done your homework

before you… you not just going to go and say what must I do this is what I am thinking, what do

you think kind of… and that sort of conversation because if you reporting to someone who is

very much a coach type of leader they going to put that question back throw it back at you so you

going to… I have learnt that you better be prepared some thinking and not just go and expect an

answer because that then puts you on the spot I think it works both ways.

PARTICIPANT: I think the difficulty on an organization though is when you need to get a

solution quickly or you have to get just move on now there isn’t time to explore creative thinking

and you almost feel like people start tensing up like we don’t have time to think about this, like

as an alternative we know what the solution is supposed to be and then that again, is you just fall

into bad habits because you just trying to meet a deadline or you have to meet a deadline or you

have to solve a problem very quickly and so coaching becomes a [unclear 0:44:10] type of thing

instead something is a norm so I mean I struggle with that balance sometimes.

INTERVIEWER: Does what you said mean that sometimes you can face some intellectual

laziness? People would just come for solutions without thinking about this because it is just easy

to come and say what should I do?

PARTICIPANT: Especially when you have time constraints and there is no… you see going

through the process as too much of a luxury you could get very prescriptive then and say do it

like this [unclear 0:45:09]. Now I find in my line of work we do a lot of communications so a

team member will do a draft of communications and send it to me to review and often the easiest

way to do that is just to type out the corrections onto the actual draft because it is simple but

calling someone in and talking them through, like what some of the concerns maybe or whatever

is actually the much more effective longer term we are doing because if you fix it for them and

then you type in and you correct the grammar and you rewrite it almost you actually not doing

them any favors. What I find is to compromise someone sometimes is call the person in and

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work through it with them on the screen so that you together you are coming up with the solution

but to a point when times of the essence, sometime you just say the easiest and the quickest is to

like insert your corrections and your…

INTERVIEWER: So investing a little bit more time now for the better good in the long

term?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, because you teaching that person then to think maybe a little bit more

about grammar to think about the way they have written something about… put themselves in

the shoes of the audience reading that is it simple enough is it plain enough or whatever. But, yes

sometimes it’s just the reality is you just actually take a short cut and you do it yourself.

INTERVIEWER: But, before taking it you would still consider whether it is possible not to

take it, and you take it with this consciousness?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, more and more I do try to make the time I always see the benefit of it

so now it is kind of a default to try and rather talk the person through it but sometimes by

exception it’s just easier to fix it.

INTERVIEWER: We’ve got four minutes left. I will ask you my last question. I would like

to talk about customer service, customer relations. I would like to invite you to see customer in a

broad sense. So, the customer is not necessarily people from outside that you would be serving,

but some of your business units are also serving other business units within the organization or

probably you do have some contractor or sub-contractors. What is if any the influence of what

you have learned through this program on customer service or the customer service that your

business unit would be providing?

PARTICIPANT: I think we have touched on it, but I think to me from the first that there is

diversity in the groups that the teams that are put together for a program. To me I got to interact

with the final people through Sunrise that I have never met that I never knew like other people

from VCO and already after the Sunrise when I have had to do business with those people, it was

easy it was quite simple in it and to me that starting point of having a diversity in there actually

broadens how we are interacting with customers. And when we come back it is quite easy to

interact I mean it’s like you kind of share a common goal or you share a common understanding

so it is quite easy to do business with at least the starting point. Sometimes if I don’t even know

who to contact in that particular area I would contact my Sunrise buddy and say this is what I am

looking to do, that I am looking for whatever and he will direct you to the right person so it’s

kind of that you have contacts in the business because that was a close group for 18 months that

you shared quite closely so there is a deeper relationship so it kind of helps you now when you

have to service or when you have to interact with the Chairman.

INTERVIEWER: So you develop a network?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Networking part of…

PARTICIPANT: It goes back to that collaboration, so I see most of my customers are

people that I need to collaborate with because I work for a service [unclear 0:49:21] so I am not a

front line I’m not on a profit center side of it I am on the cost sector side so by having me here

Chevron pays money and I make money so I am aware that my service is needed to support those

who are in the front line. So they made requests and I need to guide them because I need to guide

them I need to give them tools to stay in the front line, so I see where they come from, I learnt to

collaborate with them. So I see myself as a partner more than someone who is in competition but

most of all customers…

INTERVIEWER: So a shift of perception?

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PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Anything that you would like to add?

PARTICIPANT: I definitely think from… I do again think that Sunrise gives you a lot more

you open up a lot more so when you are receiving a request instead of receiving it in a very

closed way [unclear 0:50:22] it I think with the help of the coaching it doesn’t allow me to look

at something as okay this person needs this, how can I respond if I can’t get it, how can I frame

that so that it is not seen as a rejection but you get that person’s understanding of your

challenges etcetera so that relationship becomes a l little bit more positive instead of just a closed

thing where you just try to pack everything away because you’ve got so much work or whatever.

That is the only thing that I can think where it has helped me with that sort of internal customer

relation.

INTERVIEWER: We are done, thank you so much.

PARTICIPANT: And good luck.

FOCUS GROUP 5

INTERVIEWER: It’s the 28th October. We are at Chevron. Before we pass to precise

questions, I would like to as you the first general impressions on the Sunrise Leadership Program

anything that you would like to share, anything that comes to your mind.

PARTICIPANT: I think there are two things that come to my mind the first one was the tool

factor that we learnt was good the application thereof, the structured way in which you can

approach… for example complex discussions and things like that, that was quite a good tool that

I took out of it and just creating… I think one of the other big things was self awareness, so you

learn a lot about how you think and how you perceive things to be in your surrounding

environment people’s structured interpretation and all of that good stuff so it is eye opening. In

general it was a good learning experience for me.

PARTICIPANT: I would say also that like he says similar things in that for it was more

being more self aware of myself certain things that I was doing or not doing that I was blind to

and in the coaching sessions one on one with my coach he made me realize some of the things I

didn’t… it’s not other people that are stopping me from being what I can be, but by myself so we

were working on those things and I have seen quite a marked improvement as well at work as

well [unclear 0:01:50] to be more quiet and you are not participating but with the tools that I

have acquired from Sunrise I am able to engage people more and really I’m not only benefitting

myself but the company as well is benefitting as well.

PARTICIPANT: For me as well Sunrise opened a different way of thinking in terms of how

one approaches a situation, how one approaches a situation whether it is network or whether you

are at home or different environments, how you approach a difficult situation as opposed to in

the past just coming head on and just placing the situation and switching it around that the one

you are speaking to feels more comfortable rather than coming with an attacking type of mind

set, what have you done so that has really improved [unclear 0:02:50]

INTERVIEWER: So what I hear is self awareness and taking different perspectives and

having a distance? Is that correct?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I wouldn’t say distance I would say just how one approaches it rather

than head on and going in with maybe your default behavior but giving the other person comfort

to actually open up to you and likewise yourself feeling uncomfortable to open up to others

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because one tends to think that you are being pre-charged but to actually understand that exactly

I’m needing to understand you or simply needing to understand me.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, guys I would like to ask you to tell me a little bit more about team

cohesion, team work, collaborative work mainly building relationships. Has there been any

influence in building relationships and if yes then what kind of influence?

PARTICIPANT: For me yes there has definitely been an improvement in my ability to build

relationships I have had comments in fact since having attended Sunrise I had comments to the

fact that I am actually quite a nice person [speaking simultaneously]. So it definitely has had an

impact on my ability to build relationships with people. I tended to be very cold to say things

black and white and not considering what impact it is having on the other side, but now it’s a

kind of like let us just pause a bit and think about how you going to frame this, and just make

that other person feel more comfortable so it has definitely had a huge impact on my ability to

build a relationship be it in the office, be it in even with colleagues, offshore because you know

often you tend to hide behind the email and you say things, and even that has changed Sunrise

has just opened up the ability to sit back and think about differently how do you want to get the

best out of that person rather than just blast him.

PARTICIPANT: For me it also definitely I would say definitely gives you tools to help

build and strengthen relationships because I’m a do they call it an activist now, so it is something

that I needed to work on…

INTERVIEWER: This is not where you were before?

PARTICIPANT: I was a very activist no, competiveness like somebody is talking to you

and then you kind there goes your mind or you kind of already say okay you going there so just

let us get to the point kind of thing but there it opened my eyes in that sense and I think I did the

360 beginning of Sunrise and those topics came out, topics like competitive listening, anti-social

kind of behavior also wanting to just get the work done, don’t really want to mingle with the

team and all of those softer things so that came out and then I did through my coach I asked the

team that I worked with to share their feedback at the end of Sunrise and send it directly to my

coach and very positive so very positive things, and I can obviously feel that within the team.

INTERVIEWER: So you let others to give you feedback?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, directly so I gave them an opportunity to anonymously just say what

you think now whether you have seen any improvements so that did come out and I’m definitely

more I think relaxed in my role in a sense like yes the work gets done, but there is the team and

just the way in which you work and open yourself up to that extent as well because that is what it

is about I guess is putting up those barriers and saying this is work so we only work here and

that’s it and get done. I have grown a lot in that sense and I think the team appreciates it as well

that is clear now so it’s a good experience.

PARTICIPANT: The one thing that sort of stands out I think before Sunrise I found it

difficult to say no when people come and ask for help from me so I would tend to be overloaded

because I had too much on my plate but since Sunrise I think you are able to say no, but not

just… say no with options say I can’t do it now, but I can do it for you this time or come back

after a certain time so that I can negotiate what I can do in a sense and I mean people initially

when the [unclear 0:08:31] because I am saying no, or I am not saying yes initially but I mean

after a while they started getting used to this new sort of me of negotiating if I can’t do it now, I

can do it later. At home and even my church I mean I was one of those back benches and I would

probably through the confidence that I gained through Sunrise I found myself not standing up for

leadership questions, but being can you do this and I would go into it and then using those tools

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and even they do work… I find this side of me which I never knew that it existed and people are

reacting positively to it.

INTERVIEWER: So what I hear is that you are able to say no, not now, we’re going to do it

later? Self-confidence?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, and we do some of the things that when sometimes we had to write a

letter or things one of those things certificates from my side and I am on the road to…

INTERVIEWER: So the objective was reached?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can we talk about courageous conversations? In case you are in a position

of a leader or a manager do you think that you better understand your team and in case you are in

a position of a direct report, are you able to better voice your concerns with your superiors? I

guess each of us in a work situation is in two positions because towards certain people we are in

a position of managing and in case of others we are in a position of direct report. Please feel free

to choose whichever.

PARTICIPANT: You asked a question about whether there is an improvement in our

willingness to have a courageous conversation so I have never ever had a problem with having a

courageous conversation.

INTERVIEWER: Were you over-courageous?

PARTICIPANT: It was more a directive conversation and the understanding that was

brought about by Sunrise was how you go about that courageous conversation that you don’t

shut the other person off that you don’t immediately put that person on the back foot and

approach him the courageous conversation with the mindset that she wants to take you forward

not to keep you off this conversation. I actually want to take this relationship forward by having

this courageous conversation and it is a huge benefit because when one approaches that

courageous or your necessary conversation with a I’m going to tell you now, you immediately

shut that person off and that person doesn’t even want to respond whereas if you approach it with

okay how can we make this work, I’m having this conversation with you because I want to take

this relationship I want to improve the position that you find yourself in now then you open up

another world for that person knowing that this conversation is coming from the point that this

person wants to support you and not push you down.

INTERVIEWER: OK.

PARTICIPANT: I’ve got experience with both of that you say better understand the team

and also within the team having courageous discussions for me it was more about avoiding

conflict it was about don’t want to hurt that person’s feelings or anything and approaching it very

subtle and not bringing the point across through doing it in that gentle way, and so I needed to

step up a bit and be clear when I am having a courageous discussion so yes, it is working better

much better, and I am more confident in that now and I also see that it is needed and that it is

wanted as well that directness from the team that I am managing. So it is working out, it is

obviously it is still deep down a difficult thing, but you prepare and your clear on what you want

to bring across through the tools that we have and I find it much easier in using the tools to have

those discussions on the flip, communicating up I have had probably just about I don’t know…

recently I had one it was tough, so I had to have a courageous discussion about something I felt

strongly about again there I had a day within which to prepare my thoughts and I always feel like

if I give myself that time to prepare it is just much better to be clear and what my [unclear

0:13:39] to voice those concerns. So yes, I had that discussion and it went well it ended well on a

very good understanding tone and then the consequences of that also the follow up of that was

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that I brought the point across and the next day we had another discussion about the same topic

and it was okay, so it is good, I agree and we moved forward so yes it is not easy discussions, but

and it was a real intensive growth curve for me to be at a point where I am now, but I feel more

comfortable and confident to face it head on.

INTERVIEWER: And this approach to prepare has it evolved when you compare it to the

past? In the past would you react more instantly and like probably sometimes emotionally than

take a step back and think about it and prepare it?

PARTICIPANT: Exactly the emotions come out it is either when the emotions come out

that I shut off in the past and not do anything about it or ignore it and then it would just spin in

your head for a while and you kind of go away I don’t want to deal with it but no, now it is… it

is working out.

PARTICIPANT: For me I would say I think courageous conversations for me were

something that I avoided if I could work through [unclear 0:15:18]. I guess it was because before

Sunrise I never knew how to have one so I didn’t know what to do in [unclear 0:15:30] so by

going through Sunrise and looking at these steps that you have to go through the preparation that

you need to go through all of a sudden what the other person might say or react so that for me it

gave me sort of confidence to [unclear 0:15:48]. Up to so far I have had an interest of my direct

reports [unclear segment] probably that is where I might have… there might be a position for me

to do that and one of the great things that I learnt about this one is it doesn’t have to be an

aggressive… you don’t have to be aggressive it is a conversation so you don’t want that person

[unclear 0:16:30] you want to engage them and in a way it is also involves that [unclear 0:16:38]

of feedback which I think that feedback is a gift so if I [unclear segment].

INTERVIEWER: So you would be able to analyze the situation from different angles?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: Can I just add I think what is very important part of having a courageous

conversation is preparing preparation is very important, you cannot decide you know, I’ve had it

now, I’m going to have this conversation you got to sit back think about this, you have to

maintain that composure because if you are not prepared somewhere along the line you going

lose composure because you are basically stepping out of your normal your behavior by

having… to get yourself into a point where you having that courageous conversation in the

manner that it should be so you have to be well prepared.

PARTICIPANT: And to add onto that sometimes I mean looking at the sort of the tools that

have developed for us from Sunrise you must start with courageous conversation but you might

end up with a gotcha moment so it can sort of go depending on how the thing goes, so you

shouldn’t also just try to force it to be a telephone conversation whereas you can see that this

[unclear 0:18:17] is leading to what is normally a gotcha moment or something else and being a

way of all of those tools you are able to it almost looks like think on your feet where this thing is

going and then you cannot allow to let it go therefore for the time being and then it will suggest

where you can put it back to where you want it to go to.

INTERVIEWER: Let’s talk about empowerment be it in case of yourself, or be it in case of

people that you would empower. When we talk about empowerment you might think for

example about trust, trust that you are giving to colleagues that you are supervising. It might be

for example your expectation that they come with solutions to problems instead of you providing

solutions or being directive and saying this is the way it is supposed to be done. I’m just giving

examples because I would like you to better understand my question. My question is about

empowerment. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

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PARTICIPANT: My previous supervisor was on Sunrise before I was on [unclear 0:19:34]

so what happened is that when some of my colleagues even myself when we go to him and say

listen we are stuck and we want to… we want help because we were not aware of Sunrise then

he would essentially coach us and he became frustrated because we looking for an answer for

this thing and he asked questions for us to figure it out for ourselves, so on [unclear 0:20:02] we

would have probably been better for him to sort of say listen, I’m going to try something new

can we try doing it this way instead of me trying to tell you what to do, you can just try this

different approach which is for myself that is what I am doing so instead of just coaching or

doing this thing so people without knowing I would say listen I’ve done this thing and let’s try

this new approach and then see and we can get feedback and how was it for you so [unclear

segment] and they understood why I was not giving them the answer but were trying to get them

to figure out why that for me it is sort of… I was empowered by being on the course but also

trying to get them to start with some of the stuff that I have learnt [unclear segment].

INTERVIEWER: And your colleagues that you are talking about now had they gone through

the program or not necessarily?

PARTICIPANT: No, they haven’t but there’s two that are currently on the program and I

think they also have that aha moment that is why [unclear 0:21:20] it’s getting to a point where I

think we are sort of starting to understand where he was coming from…

INTERVIEWER: The reason I am asking this question is that in certain groups it was stated

that it is different after the program when talking to people who went through it and who do not

have this experience because they do not necessary share the same vocabulary. It has been said it

might be frustrating sometimes. I’m just sharing with you an observation. You can address it if

you want but you don’t need to. Otherwise, let’s come back to the question the empowerment.

PARTICIPANT: I’m struggling a little bit with this question I guess for me there has always

been a sense of trust in the team the level of trust though I think has grown but more from me

opening up, but giving more of myself as my coach calls it to the team there’s definitely an

increase in those trust levels amongst the team closely knitted sharing our thoughts, feeling free

to share and assisting… all of us assisting each other so we are functioning quite well as a group.

And the sense of letting somebody grow and empowering that person within their role and letting

them make their own decisions and also… so for me it’s about if I see a challenge the first thing I

do is a risk assessment on okay so if I let this go, where can it potentially end up, and if the risk

is low or medium or whatever, I would let it go and let them figure it out for themselves and be

available if they need help and I wouldn’t that is just the nature in which I manage the team, I

won’t jump in I will only if I see a real challenge and then I will help but that is how we work so

it’s I think they are empowered and they feel empowered to do and they trust that I will let them

do and handle so I don’t… that probably was I don’t see any it has always been good in that

sense within our team.

INTERVIEWER: OK.

PARTICIPANT: I don’t have direct reports I have an influencing role so what was… I

would say Sunrise empowered me because I tend to be a bit of a top green and I must do

everything perfect I must know everything so I used to find it difficult to engage others and ask

them for ideas or ask them listen I’m battling with this because I am in this role I’m supposed to

be the expert in this role and how can I not know so it empowered me that actually to [unclear

0:24:57] others it empowered me to trust others that they would not think I am stupid if I am

asking this question or if a question is asked and I said actually I don’t know now, but I will go

find out so for me it was oh God I didn’t know, how could I not know so it empowered me to

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actually feel afraid about no knowing something or about going to find out because actually that

is a positive of getting best tracks from others benefits this work that you are doing then that had

an empowering effect on me actually.

INTERVIEWER: So you would go and consult more around?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I would go into other areas of Chevron’s businesses and say look

here, we having a bit of an issue how we doing it on that side, how you doing this there and not

thinking that you are that person’s counterpart you should be knowing how to do this or what the

best way to do it been working for Chevron for so many years so that is how it empowered me in

my role that I am okay with not knowing everything.

INTERVIEWER: So you embrace not knowing?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: What about the level of engagement at work?

PARTICIPANT: Before you go on, are you going to come back to that point you made

earlier while you were speaking about…

INTERVIEWER: You can come back at any time if you want to speak about it now, please

do.

PARTICIPANT: So in the beginning I did find that there was this difference in reaction and

in the value you were able to engage with those who went through Sunrise and those who didn’t

but I think as time went on and people observed that there is a difference in the way you doing

things it kind of influenced how they were then reacting to you because what they were used to

seeing is this particular person and now they seeing this person suddenly it’s a bit of a almost a

culture structure, they don’t know if they can trust it and after seeing that a couple of times, I

mean I even observed that with my children whereas their dad used to be like this and then

suddenly dad is sitting me down and okay son now you tell me how… but as time went on that

became the norm you could see okay, they understanding that this is the way that things are done

and I see that with colleagues as well and yet people can say they are still afraid of you, but

things are okay now we can open up to you because you see a different person. As I said initially

yes, but as time got on and people got used to okay this is the way things are done now.

INTERVIEWER: So there’s like a phasing in?

PARTICIPANT: There’s a phasing in yes that is what my experience was.

INTERVIEWER: Would you like to say something about the engagement at work.

PARTICIPANT: Work satisfaction, did you mean from my side personally am I more

satisfied in my role at work?

INTERVIEWER: Please feel free to share whatever comes to your mind about the level of

engagement so if it is your engagement, then be it.

PARTICIPANT: So a few things come to mind, the one is yes let me start there before I

forget that one in terms of my thinking around a team and their… because of me opening up

more towards the team I think that has definitely played out a positive role. I don’t think any of

the team members including myself at any point at Chevron being unsatisfied in our roles and in

our job if I must say, it’s quite an interesting role there are always new things happening for us

new projects, new complexities, new challenges so it keeps you on your feet and as a team we all

enjoy that so work satisfaction has not been… but, if I think about level of engagement I am

even though I am a [unclear 0:29:53] I’ve had issues speaking out and making and presenting

and all those things which my coach and I also worked through and I think from that level the

level of confidence now versus back then much more, much more comfortable and confident in

addressing the topics questions whatever, and to the extent that if I get… at first I used to get like

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really bad butterflies whatever you call it if I am asked to present to Martin or to the CEO or to

the Board of Directors or… and now it’s like it’s just another thing it is just another presentation

prepare well and go and deliver and face the questions and… so yes all of the fear is basically

gone but it is the tools, it is the self awareness and it’s the practicing it over time just to become

more confident in that and so for me it is good it has been all positive.

PARTICIPANT: It’s just that realization that I too have something to contribute like I said

earlier on in meetings I would be quiet and be in the room but not really participating, but after

this having gained that confidence and you know that I am even able to voice an opinion that

might not necessarily be the prevailing opinion in this meeting so I find that I’m now

contributing more than I did before and I am able to engage people and really challenge them if I

have to push [unclear 0:31:54] might just push back and back up why I want to do that as well.

INTERVIEWER: It seems in your case this change was actually extremely impressive

because it goes from not speaking at all to not clearly voicing your point of view, very

assertively pushing forward certain points.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, it’s that.

PARTICIPANT: For me again I found that people would more [unclear 0:32:27] engage me

they felt more comfortable in approaching me about issues and that they weren’t going to get

blasted if I can call it that so they found me an easier person to work with them so that is what I

found in the past people would go around and ask someone else to ask. People are more open

and willing to ask me for help and to even if they couldn’t meet a deadline come and speak to me

beforehand and say look we not able to… and okay, let’s get a way around it because in the past

some people I would see it as couldn’t you let me know beforehand that you wouldn’t make it,

but in the meantime it was like… I’m not going to make it and not realizing that actually he is

okay, I can go and speak to him about it and say I am not able to make it can we negotiate so that

what I found that people were more open to engage me about certain issues. What was the other

question the other part?

INTERVIEWER: I was asking about the work satisfaction, enthusiasm, ownership and so

on, but these are only the examples to make the question clearer.

PARTICIPANT: No, I think that is what I experienced as I said I had a problem engaging

others.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, we have two more subject to cover, so we are almost done. I would

like to ask you about creative thinking and by creative thinking I mean finding innovative

solutions to problems sometimes we say thinking outside the box.

PARTICIPANT: What comes to my mind is again if I speak about what we do… we need

to be creative in our jobs to find solutions so I think for us and the team that is a must have skill

so I am trying to think where what else maybe where else… give me some more time to think.

INTERVIEWER: Would you like to help?

PARTICIPANT: It’s engineering so there’s codes of standards from Chevron it is more

rigid there is not so much room for creativity but I guess it just comes when do you mobilize

certain resources to do things but otherwise there isn’t much room for creative solutions.

PARTICIPANT: I guess ones’ approach makes others feel more comfortable to come up

with ideas and solutions which otherwise they may have thought oh no he is going [unclear

0:35:58] but knowing that there is a different approach is a different way of dealing with him,

maybe come up with something which otherwise may have been seen as farfetched. I think

Sunrise has generally brought about a more open minded type of mindset that you not looking at

someone stupid where his idea doesn’t gel with what you are [unclear segment]. Okay, let’s

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explore it a bit more and maybe in that way you can come up with a very good innovative

solution with something, rather than no this is what it is [unclear 0:36:39] I won’t say that I have

experienced it because in my role as well it’s… it is numbers one plus one is two it will never be

three so…

PARTICIPANT: For me it is around problem solving so like I said we come up with

creative solutions and we use chip dip which is a Chevron project management tool quite

[unclear 0:37:05] and we would do an alternative analysis and brainstorm. I am in the science

field we would brainstorm these are the solutions and pros and cons and all of those and we very

much leverage international technical experts within Chevron we leverage best practices within

the organization so that is a standard practice with how we work and come up with a solution and

then be able to sell that solution because normally when we want to resolve an issue it costs a lot

of money and we need to get buy in from all levels, so you really needed to have thought through

and come up with the best solution. But, for me personally when it comes to and this is just how

I am, I don’t like being put in a box and Chevron is a box, it’s a process driven I’m not saying

this in a negative sense it is a process driven box and I do push the boundaries and that is just in

my nature so if I see something different I would just go for it and I will try and make a business

case the way my manager calls it to convince if need be. But, you mentioned something about

open minded, I think for me in that sense I think I am more open minded and what hit home in

Sunrise for me was understanding people’s structure of interpretation so when I am interacting

with you not just seeing what you saying, but also looking at everything looking at the body

language maybe the unsaid as well, and really in that sense be open to engage in a more better

manner I think.

PARTICIPANT: Where does that comment coming from not just see okay you telling me

but where does it come from where do you come from, what makes you think that way so

kindness opens you up to be more understanding and considering and getting the best out of the

conversation.

PARTICIPANT: I would say it is more sense of creating the environment where people are

free to share their ideas the section we did asking open ended questions so I mean that we don’t

have a yes or no answer so people can talk more and in that I might not be creative but somebody

else might come up with some innovative solution to something that we are struggling with so

it’s being a [unclear 0:39:41]

INTERVIEWER: Last but not least I would like to talk about customer relations. I invite you

to see the word customer in a broad sense. I’m not talking necessarily the customers outside the

company that you would be serving but also other business units that you are working with, other

companies, colleagues from abroad, etc.

PARTICIPANT: For me I’m in the [unclear 0:40:34] which is the technical services

department and in the role that I am actually in I was taken from my department and placed on

the Chevron team so there was a team of people that have been doing Chevron for one or two

together then here I am from an outsider coming in from [unclear 0:40:52] to sort of join the

team. They were our customers so they would say we need to replace this thing and then they

would [0:41:04] from there we the customer organization that we help and it has been quite a

revelation I mean [unclear 0:41:10] if they have any technical [unclear 0:41:12] that they have

I’m just… or they can come into my office and then they can sort find the immediate self

response to their colleagues and also we have now I think if I was asked to do that a couple of

years ago I would have probably said no I would not do that because I don’t like being on my

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own in it, but now I think I’ve got the confidence to [unclear 0:41:35] and be able to address

issues that they have [0:41:48]

PARTICIPANT: In my role I’m basically I don’t think there’s an area of a business that I

actually don’t interact with so I need to have… to have relationships with everybody so that I can

get the best out of them so that I can fulfill my role so that I can feed my main customers who are

in fact the LD so that… and an important thing is to understand your customers to know who the

customer is and what it is that they are looking for because often you can… yes, but you being

difficult and so you got to understand the customer and look at how you can best serve the

customer because then it’s about how it then moulds how their reaction to you when they feel

that you are servicing with their need then it also impacts positively their approach to you their

confidence in what you are producing for them. So Sunrise has definitely allowed me to improve

my relationship with the people that I have interacted with on the ground so that I can satisfy my

main customer [unclear 0:43:14] and it’s important that I maintain those good relationships with

those people in transport and be it refinery, be it in sales in the Middle East or wherever so that I

can fulfill my role otherwise I break down the relationship and I don’t get the best how to be able

to feed my main customers.

INTERVIEWER: Is there the notion of putting yourself in the shoes of the other?

PARTICIPANT: Yes exactly I’ve got to put myself in their shoes to understand what it is

and make them understand that I understand what they are going through what makes life

difficult for them and make them know… it is like this comment that says people don’t care what

they [unclear 0:43:50] so making them know that you actually care about the situation [unclear

0:44:01] and still making them know that you understand they kind of a willing to how can I say,

to satisfy your need as well because you have another customer to serve and then also as I said

understanding your customer knowing who he is he is going to be presenting to knowing who it

is who is asking the question and what each one of them need is what needs to be fed when you

respond to them because you could just okay this is the way I respond and do that in a blanket

manner and you don’t satisfy the customer.

PARTICIPANT: So for me we are supporting within the business so we support the entire

business and obviously important relationships within the business. I think the systems we have

in place worked well before Sunrise and better after Sunrise in terms of just improving those

relationships then what we also do is… sorry I’m finding it again a little bit difficult because I

think it is a good thing that we are already doing very well within the team and within the

business so we support the business in our roles we also deal with the authorities so we need to

keep them our stakeholders happy, we deal with people out there might be affected with risk

associated with if it is contamination or whatever, so we deal with people on the ground, we deal

with the other oil companies because sometimes we have joint projects that we need to run with,

and then we leverage consultancies to do the actual hands on work, so it is all about relationships

and it’s all about understanding how best to work that. So I think just coming back to what I took

out of it with everything having worked well and I think being good at managing relationships

and understanding people what is needing to be given to them to get the end result, for me it was

personally more about being assertive, being confident, being when I do bring messages across

and that helps in itself when you are speaking to the leadership because you communicate up as

well or when you communicate with authorities someone with a science background you always

going through things like okay it could be this, it could be that or whatever, but it is more about

structuring and giving your feedback more concisely and confidently and to the point and

winning people over in that regard to buy in to what you offering or as a solution and so on.

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INTERVIEWER: We have three minutes left. Is there anything that you would like to add?

PARTICIPANT: Just on that and what has been said around the customer I mean Sunrise is

basically helped me to understand that you got to understand each one of those customers I mean

for instance the leadership deal and Lindi mentioned now about when you busy interacting with

a scientist you can speak at that level so clients communicating finance to a non-financial

manager so don’t assume that your customer knows what you are talking about it has allowed

you to treat each one of them differently and know what each one needs so that the one needs

you do go into detail the other one doesn’t actually care about the detail so it’s about

understanding each ones need as a different customer and not say [unclear 0:47:58].

INTERVIEWER: Thank you very much.

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Annex 5 - Concourse Mapping to Focus Groups Sessions (25 (Focus

Group 1), 27 (Focus Group 2), 28 (Focus Group 3, 4 & 5) November

2016)

Identified impact from Focus Groups Q set statement

“…for me it was just the awareness that gets created around your behavior

and how you respond and react in scenario (…) so for me the big part of

that was the self-awareness…”

“…understanding yourself, sense of awareness…”

“…I think yes the sense of awareness is probably the most important…”

“…I think probably just the self-awareness and when you wanting to have

those certain conversations and when you can gain the emotions you

[unclear segment] conversation now stepping back and waiting for when it

is… so just that whole self-awareness and [unclear segment]…”

“…The self-awareness around how I react towards others and how I

respond to others so that was big for me just being more aware of that and

how my body language impacted communication within the office

environment. But, also, just from a personal perspective it helped me just

unpack some kind of maybe mental blocks that I used to have…”

“…it forces you to really reflect and think about how you present yourself

and how you respond to something and because of that, so then my

interaction with others would be changed by that and a part reflection after

sometimes… sometimes I would still fall back and still do, fall back almost

into old ways but then at least through reflection you kind of think no, no,

but there is a different way and when you re-approach the subject with

someone just using those tools again and coming back and falling back into

old patterns…”

“…So when these courses come again you will pause and stop understand

yourself then you will understand where you fit into the rest of the

organization how others work and that’s where all those it became the

building block okay this is how to build relationships that’s how to

collaborate, that’s how you make requests, this is how you speak up if you

need to or this is how you let other people… but it was more like I can only

understand myself first, then I would understand where people are coming

from…”

“…I found it in most cases because I had been in a program you have that

one step of self-awareness you can anticipate…”

1. Increased self-awareness.

126

“…it’s more about how I react you can’t control what they do, it was more

about my reaction that what I knew going into courageous conversations

was that that part wasn’t going to change and I needed to change, and I

might not always get the outcome I wanted because the person I am having

the courageous conversation with might still react in their own way so it

just takes kind of continuing to do it, and then thinking about afterwards

how you felt about having the conversation that made it get better each time

to have it because then you build up your courage to have it, even if you

don’t get the outcome you were looking for, you are more confident in

having the conversation…”

“…I think one of the other big things was self-awareness, so you learn a lot

about how you think and how you perceive things to be in your surrounding

environment people’s structured interpretation and all of that good stuff so

it is eye opening…”

“…being more self-aware of myself certain things that I was doing or not

doing that I was blind to and in the coaching sessions one on one with my

coach he made me realize some of the things I didn’t… it’s not other people

that are stopping me from being what I can be, but by myself so we were

working on those things and I have seen quite a marked improvement as

well at work as well…”

“…from the coaching training that I have attended I’m pretty aware of who

I am, what I need to do, how I need to engage with my team and I can

influence my team…”

“…For me as a head of a [unclear 0:22:37] what Ian has just described is

vitally important because the moment I sniff the win that is where I am

going to go from I am going to go from the win but often winning isn’t the

best outcome it is not about me winning it’s about the organization winning

and often that means now I need to backtrack so it is very hard for me to be

able to do that because I can see… I’m so conscious of it now; I realize I

can hit my pause button a lot easier so it actually has improved my

perception and my use of my only colors as well…”

“…in order for you to know others you have to know yourself…”

“…Understanding yourself also plays a part in how you relate to others

with the coaching sessions you tend to see how others see you, and like

coach directing you in a certain way also gives you more confidence

looking at your pitfalls and the shortfalls…”

“…I was going to add the point about self-awareness understanding what

an issue means to you when you are having a courageous conversation is an

important consideration…”

“…it’s just where I am because I can control myself and it’s a little bit less 2. Increased self-control.

127

that you can control others…”

“…it’s just where I am because I can control myself and it’s a little bit less

that you can control others…”

“…reflect others behaviors of you by keeping your understanding

yourself…”

“…I think what the coaching has done has… it gets you to that courageous

conversation a lot quicker you execute on it quicker, where you would have

been hesitant because you know what this person is about, and so now what

creates that methodology says to you okay, you can get there quicker, how

can you get there quicker because there is a methodology. If you use this

methodology I think the result will come out differently and that it has also

taught you that you can’t accept I suppose you can’t control how they

would feel about that conversation so that is the other part it feels it makes

you to go there a lot quicker because you can’t control it for the other

person, you have to… so you have learnt to accept the fact that you can’t

control that person, but at least you making it visible to that person it is up

to them now to decide what is that they are they doing with that. So it is

easier for me to go there because I don’t have to control what that person

thinks, because that fear is a lot less but strong considerably…”

“…It helps in that it hold us accountable, we all have to be accountable at

some point for our actions. So it also helps in that people now know there

are things that they can’t do which they used to get away with because

nobody asked about it, nobody challenged them. It’s not an easy thing but

in my room, my room is more influencing because I can’t force people to

do stuff but I can influence them, I can show them the risks, I can show

them the process. Having done all of that and they still insist there is

nothing much I can do…”











“…So I think what you are saying, you can only take responsibility for

what you bring to try and meet that person half way, but sometimes you are

going knock your head…”

3. Increased awareness of lack of

control over behaviours and

thoughts of others.

128

“…think and that we can never force anybody else into that, but how do

we… what can we do on our side to kind of keep practicing keep trying to

educate etcetera…”

“…direct conversations you have with your team…”

“…PARTICIPANT: Exactly and I don’t think they appreciate that change

and I don’t think maybe they get warned that wow, there is going to be a

difference and this difference is not necessarily a bad thing, embrace it.

Just learn from that experience. So I do think there is a bit of frustration

from that side. I am not sure what your experiences are.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think guys?

PARTICIPANT: Well I had two supervisors that have gone through so I

think when I had to have a courageous conversation with the other one,

because he has gone through sunrise. So I think at first he kind of went the

defensive way but then he realised the ... [interjects]


INTERVIEWER: Ja, the self-reflection and then I could see there was

that standing back and then later where he said I think he had to say it and

whatever. But I think I understand Lolo’s where, if its someone who is

higher up who hasn’t gone through because I think I have been also been

asking questions like giving feedback to people even my supervisor’s

supervisor. So it’s like they really don’t understand and it’s frustrating so,

but ja, I mean you just have to take it, when it happens…”

“…And I would also say it also helped as a tool for communication because

I remember I mean my previous manager had not gone to Sunrise, I mean

he has been a sponsor obviously he has been on the… but I wanted to have

a courageous conversation with him, but then I also knew that he wouldn’t

know what I am trying to do, so I then said I want to have a courageous

conversation with you, but I will first educate you on how that goes and

then I explained to him but by the time we had the conversation actually it

wasn’t anymore because obviously he kind of knew what I am trying to put

across and what I am trying to practice and he was also open to okay, I

must guard my reaction when you have this courageous conversation so

that I ensure that I get you. So I think to me it was a tool more than even for

people that have got in [unclear 0:10:08] team when I want to practice

something I will say you know I have been on Sunrise I want to practice

this thing and so bear with me and then I would explain to them what I am

going to be trying so that at least they can catch it and number two, they

can give me some feedback if there is a way of improving. So I think using

it as a tool definitely has helped in terms of communication in that

collaboration…”

4. Enhanced direct conversations.

129

“…natural reaction prior to Sunrise I think would have been to be

defensive. So one of the things I think I have done two occasions probably

got a feedback or somebody being courageous enough to have a

conversation with me. And one of the things that I… I didn’t do it very well

in the first conversation, because I think it was [unclear 0:27:30] now we

are practicing this, but on the second conversation one of the things that I

have learnt quickly that is to always try to sit on another person’s shoes

which is quite a very… I think that even during the Sunrise training it was a

very emotional one sitting or fitting another person’s shoes especially when

they are small they pinch you so you learn a little bit that people you have

to see where they are coming from and what you learn to deal when the

courageous conversation experience that I had, you learn to accept it and at

least where they are coming from. So you don’t need naturally to defend

yourself and that became almost like a very useful tool to me but to be

aware that people who are courageous is to come and have a conversation

with you, you need to fit into their shoes and feel the discomfort that they

are in coming to you within. So I am very sensitive to the discomforts of

other people when it comes to this [unclear 0:28:44] they do naturally they

are very uncomfortable hence I am uncomfortable to do it myself so I’m

very receptive to it because I know the discomfort that people go

through…”

“…I personally think it has made a positive impact on my leadership style

to a certain degree…”

5. Had a positive impact on personal

leadership style.

“…what I understand is basically the way the human mind works so I

think from a coaching perspective you just tapping into those principles in

applying to the workplace…”

6. Helped me understand the way

human mind works.

“…For what I have seen is for some of the members that are not maybe

selected to go it is almost like creating some wedge in between favorable

ones and the not so favorable ones so in certain groups I have picked up

that it is almost like marginalization that that person gets, and we know

that’s how the selection of the pack works right at the end of the day, you

get selected, you don’t get selected. But, I have picked it up in some of the

discussion groups that after you have been on Sunrise… so some people

feel that they see the value and the advantage of going on there, but the fact

that it is not available to a much bigger group but a larger scale makes a bit

of a [unclear 0:05:08]…

INTERVIEWER: Okay, so is it perceived a little bit like

discrimination? Those who are being discriminated against would have a

prejudice against the program itself during the [unclear 0:05:28]

PARTICIPANT: Yes.”

7. Created a feeling of

discrimination in those who were

not accepted in the Sunrise

Leadership Program (coaching

program).

“…there is also the perception that when people go on the program they

are being earmarked for climbing a corporate ladder…”

8. Created a perception that those

who are accepted in the Sunrise


program) are being earmarked for

130

promotion.

“…I think that not enough people have been coached so outside of all the

good stuff as I said in principle I think that is what the program is trying to

achieve if you’ve got merit it makes sense. I think that is the way in which

it is being executed could do with some work and there’s a couple of stuff

so I don’t know how the candidates are selected. I think they selected kind

of anybody will do kind of thing you kind of correct in what you do, you

go on the course. I think some more work could be done on that in terms of

understanding the psychological makeup and where they are personally

professionally before they… so they can be receptive to this kind of

thing…”

9. Has not been preceded by

sufficient personality analysis of

candidates for the Sunrise


program).

“…I think that not enough people have been coached so outside of all the

good stuff as I said in principle I think that is what the program is trying to

achieve if you’ve got merit it makes sense. I think that is the way in which

it is being executed could do with some work and there’s a couple of stuff

so I don’t know how the candidates are selected. I think they selected kind

of anybody will do kind of thing you kind of correct in what you do, you

go on the course. I think some more work could be done on that in terms of

understanding the psychological makeup and where they are personally

professionally before they… so they can be receptive to this kind of

thing…”

10. Has not been preceded by

sufficient professional

environment analysis of

candidates for the Sunrise


program).

“…if that manager cannot recognize that positive change and be receptive

to it and encourage and support it, it’s going to be useless…”

“…PARTICIPANT: I think it’s more difficult when its report like it’s my

Supervisor. I think it’s easier when its colleagues or the people that report

to me. When it’s your supervisor and you are trying to enforce those kind

of things it’s very frustrating. Because now you ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: The Supervisor who wouldn’t go through the program

for example.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, he wasn’t in the program because now, you have

got different ways of doing things of thinking, you ask questions, you

challenge the questions, not in a bad way but all of a sudden I mean where

you are coming from ... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: There is a change of pattern of behaviour.

PARTICIPANT: Exactly and I don’t think they appreciate that change




from that side. I am not sure what your experiences are…”

11. Generated frustration when

management was not

encouraging/supporting skills

learned during the Sunrise


program).

131

“…So the first bit is it is a different language we’ve got this knowledge…”

“…when I spoke to another like Donavon we could use the jargon, people

would understand when I talked about the [unclear 0:19:12] of inference

you would understand when I talk about direct conversations allowing you

into my circle but not everybody understood that so when you leave it’s

kind of like you being left on your own fed to the wolves and you have to

fend…”

“…I find that people that you at Sunrise with you kind of have a bond with

them so if you it’s just like an understanding almost that you meet up with

someone they going to work with someone that went through Sunrise with

you there is always that history that share history. I don’t deal with a lot of

people from the refinery but the people from the refinery that were on

Sunrise with us, always have special relationships I bumped into two of

them last week when I went to the refinery for a meeting and it’s always

like “hi, how are you?” and the catching up with them, whereas before I

wouldn’t have had a relationship with them other than just on an occasional

basis bumping into them…”

“…different people go through it and now you almost are able to have a

different conversation with them…”

“…there are certain catch phrases or things that because you have been on

the program that person understands it and then there has even been shifts

with me and other people now I see what you were trying to do here, or

there is just more of an understanding because once you go through the

program yourself you understand about making requests and you

understand about all those kinds of topics that we covered you understand it

in a different way so it’s a larger community almost of having that kind of

understanding…”

12. Created a specific “language”

used by Sunrise Leadership

Program (coaching program)

graduates only.

“…people go through it and I’ve lost touch, I mean maybe the other guys

are a little better, but I have lost touch with a lot of what I have learnt…”

“…Yes, I think it’s similarly to what they have mentioned the follow up

that for me it’s not even after 3 months just having that person who can

bounce off things once in a while even if you are given so many instances

and you know you have used the one and then there is a big thing coming

up and you just want somebody to bounce off things and then you have got

an option to go to that person and you know to happen whether I am not

necessarily a sad thing that’s says after three months because I think after

that you need to apply it you need to learn to apply it because it is a

journey but you need prep those know those touch points once in a while

indication would help..”

13. Did not create permanent learning

outcomes.

“…It would help a lot if that refresher you get a lot at a time and then we

just don’t want to lose it…”

14. Requires refreshing sessions

every now and then.

132

“…A coach is an intimate relationship it’s almost a bond that you form

almost like a parent. Again I come to the intent in purpose which is good

again in the execution I think could do some work…”

“…I mean even in my opinion if people scrap the 18 months just introduce

the target of coaching from the start I think that you would learn a lot more

and then [noisy background] post problem solving session where the coach

sits down and this what you need, it could have worked like that in terms

of the [unclear 0:25:44] I think it is far more effective…”

“…that would be a [unclear 0:25:12] benefit if we have continuity going

forward in future to coaching…”

“…The format of that is you go with instruction form you go once every

three months for 18 months there is no really valuation you don’t really

know. You were talking about investment, you saying investment the

words that you used just before investment is return on, so how do we

know and how do you measure this in the light, are we getting things done

quicker are we arguing less, fighting less, making decisions faster. I’m not

saying that it is not happening but how do we know is this just one of those

things that looks good on paper it sounds good to people, but you don’t

really know whether it is effective as it looks on paper and as it would be

practiced…”

15. Did not create a Return on

Investment.

“…Yes. So I have been aware of listening more I may not always do it that

well, but I always had that awareness and I think we’ve got those coaching

[unclear 0:14:27] cards did you guys… so I have two sets of it so two

different messages I get at a point in time just to remind me listen a little

bit more, make sure that people give their inputs right and then take it

from… and then build on that right, but that is to get the whole trust bit… I

think it has helped me I don’t know it would be interesting to get some

perspectives from other people…”

“…It also gave you a lot of chance to listen more because while we are

listening, we are preparing a response which you are not supposed to do

you supposed to listen attentively before responding to somebody…”

“…There was something you mentioned earlier about listening not to reply

about listening to really understand and that helps with collaboration that

helps to get the person onto your side as well to drive your particular

position as well, but then also get their position and try to get some sort of

consensus as well, I think that also collaborates is really listening to

understand instead of trying to reply or to respond to something that… so

you already have a predisposed position about what you going to respond to

the person already so that from a coaching perspective that helps a lot…”

“…I think one of the things is that and I think we have spoken about it

before is listening to listen and probing questions gets people to think

16. Improved listening capacity.

133

differently and that creates creative thinking and it is about… and I found

like if we work on business solutions by listening and then questioning for

understanding and then questioning to go down a different channel or take

another different path, not the particular path that you were looking to go

down, but I think that creates the opportunity for creative new ideas. So I

think the coaching style creates an opportunity to develop like innovative

solutions…”

“…I’ve got a colleague in the Asia who is very new in his job and his got

no experience in product engineering so to speak, so it has been quite

challenging kind of grow capabilities from Cape Town into Asia with the

time differences and all that, but the guys got the [unclear 0:40:47] clearly

he was hired for the job, so it is merely about asking him questions that gets

him thinking about where the potential solutions can be and I find that often

when you give people the freedom to think for themselves that there is a

right way and there is a wrong way, but generally there are a lot of right

ways and a very few wrong ways the only way you going to get it horribly

wrong it is going to be a total disaster and there [unclear 0:41:21] within the

organization to prevent something like that from happening so if you

having a good coaching conversation with someone, providing them with

the basics of what they need to be able to sort of grow to plant a seed in

terms of where a solution can lie and give them the opportunity to think

through the rest of the problems themselves and often they will come back

to you and they will ask you hey, would that work. So not only do you

create the relationship but you also then create somebody who realizes that

I can think myself through this problem and eventually all they really use

you for is a sounding board…”

“…I’ve had the opportunity to move from one business unit to another

business unit to another business unit and the important part about that was

establishing trust very quickly across customer base around different

cultures so for me it was… it helped me a lot listening with to understand

rather than to just keep my version of what should happen across different

working environments coming back to South Africa having a completely

different client group now again, how do I establish that level of trust again

with this particular client and a doubly quick way because they want to get

things done, so I need to understand very quickly what this business is all

about and getting things done the way they want it done as well so that for

me is invaluable is that listening skill that I was taught to hold yourself

back try to really listen and then establishing the trust relation fairly quickly

as well so that you can deliver on what is expected and also give your input

with credibility establishing credibility with a client fairly quickly is critical

for me in that HR role as well…”

“…So now with the coaching you, need to kind of avlant to listen to the

person and then to understand where its coming from. And I don’t even

134

respond at that moment because I need to kind of internalise and see and

then afterwards then I will kind of note my stuff and then respond…”

“…what it taught me was I can influence what happens around me and

when I get feedback, I listen and I try to internalise and use it to improve

myself. So from what I learnt was, there is constructive but all the

feedback is to your advantage whether it’s you like it or you don’t like it. If

you don’t like it, you will learn what you change about yourself too in your

interactions. So I learnt to listen more…”

“…now because you don’t react you listen and try to understand where

people are coming from and try to be accommodative while you are still

you know prioritising your interest and you get that collaborative sense that

we are not fighting one another. I hear where you are coming from, how

can I accommodate the one person but at the same time make sure that what

I want does happen. So you have got that skill now, that ability of just

listening to the person you know trying to ask you probing questions and

make sure that you are, make sure that he or she notices that you are aware

of their concerns, address their concerns but at the same time still push your

agenda to make sure that whatever it is that you need to needs to happen,

happens and you come out of that with a win win situation basically. So I

think it doesn’t because you are quite aware of other people’s interests not

just about me, it’s about this person it’s about other people as well in the

group. So I do think it just opens up your mind to say this is just not about

me, it’s about everybody else’s interests. Let’s come out of this with a

common understanding and common agreement…”

“…I think most frustrations for employees is not having people hearing

them, not having heard, not being able to hear the voice, not yes and also

not being able to have a voice because they are afraid to have an opinion,

they are afraid to once that happens you know that even if that person

doesn’t do it, at least they know how I feel. It does make a little bit of a

change in terms of how you feel as a person generally…”

“…asking and also getting others used, more listening to just listen you

know in that sponge that’s just listening to other people’s views, listen to

other people’s way of doing things…”

“…I think now people they come prepared to say Vuyi we need to help this

is happening this is what what so I will kind of get all that information

before I even ask for it because of the way I have been probing to say you

want to do to this why do you want to do this what happening? Have you

done it before? What’s the learning there is that probing that I been doing to

people especially contractors because they just come and say we need this

signed we need this done so I am saying why? So I am saying what’s

happening give me information so now they come prepared with all that

135

information because they know I am going to ask those questions…”

“…Yes and it’s also in so far as where are the people coming from so I

would understand when somebody says this is why I disagree with you then

I would say okay, I still need to build a relationship with this person but we

had the conflict of understanding on this issue so therefore I had to go back

and say, does it require me to have a trade off or to make a promise and say

okay I understand where we differ on this, but this is what I promise you to

do in return for… to win your support on this…”

“…My experience when it comes to creative thinking is that pre Sunrise if

you came to me with anything you wanted to bring to the table I would

listen to it as a problem that requires a solution so if I don’t have a solution

then I don’t. If I do have a solution, I do. But, what I found with the whole

coaching circle that we did at Sunrise for the first time in that coaching

circle you learn to listen and just by listening you create more space and

what I noticed when you are listening in the beginning other people may

notice that you are listening it takes a while to realize that you are listening

or what it does to them it allows more space actually to think so you not

drowning them with a solution. So because now you are listening it makes

them to think and a creative solution comes with the effect that they are

aware that you are listening. So by listening and also just making sure that

you seeking clarity to them is it what I am understanding you are… because

now, you are giving feedback as well what do you try and understand from

a person it allows that creative thinking. You will find that as long people

leave you thinking that actually I came up with a solution to the issue that I

brought to the person, so that is where I found creative solution of problem

solving comes it is very much more about being aware that first somebody

is talking to you and you have to listen… is that when people are listening

that allows the [unclear 0:41:17]...”

“…Sometimes I have seen these things because they are not listening to

each other you getting involved in this conversation that goes on and on

and all of a sudden at some point because he might not have the [unclear

0:41:34] this is what I think you must do sometimes it actually allows you

to really pause and listen some [unclear 0:41:42] is saying something let me

listen that quietness gives another person this [unclear 0:41:47] so let me

think to what I am really it’s in my mind…”

“…I was a very activist no, competiveness like somebody is talking to you

and then you kind there goes your mind or you kind of already say okay

you going there so just let us get to the point kind of thing but there it

opened my eyes in that sense and I think I did the 360 beginning of Sunrise

and those topics came out, topics like competitive listening, anti-social kind

of behavior also wanting to just get the work done, don’t really want to

mingle with the team and all of those softer things so that came out and

136

then I did through my coach I asked the team that I worked with to share

their feedback at the end of Sunrise and send it directly to my coach and

very positive so very positive things, and I can obviously feel that within

the team…”

“…So it would just make sense that if a lot more people had that foundation

ability that foundation awareness it’s like you kind of standing alone in a

crowd, and you’re trying to apply your skills but a little while ago and it’s

slowly beginning to [unclear 0:16:44] there is also a risk of you let’s call it

relapse you forget because behaviors are entrenched through habit and

repetition, exposure, environment if you don’t have all of those things how

are those behaviors going to become entrenched…”

“…The challenge I sometimes find is yes from the coaching training that I

have attended I’m pretty aware of who I am, what I need to do, how I need

to engage with my team and I can influence my team but sometimes if it

doesn’t get accepted or understood maybe at a higher level, then that is

where it ends…”

“…not everybody understood that so when you leave it’s kind of like you

being left on your own fed to the wolves and you have to fend…”

17. Created a sensation of alienation

in those who graduated the

Sunrise Leadership Program

(coaching program).

“…Coaching is seen as for the elite…” 18. Is elitist.

“...it actually helped me when I… I think 15 minutes before this meeting

just to go through a couple of things and I looked at some of the stuff that

was shared with me and where I was in my career around some issues and

that helped a hell of a lot. If I could have that maybe a year ago or when I

had been going through some you almost needed that trusting bit that kind

of is powerful…”

“…But this one for me it was holistic because it really looked at you as an

individual but also all of you and it wasn’t only just on this part that is your

work, it really looked at all of and different facets and really highlighted

where one thing if I might have put something in a box over here

somewhere else, it actually impacts my career as well and vice versa…”

19. Helped my career development.

“…In terms of execution I would think that a much more effective way

together with the 18 months is that when you are presented whether

yourself or your leaders present with some sort of issue, it doesn’t matter

what it is you call him a coach and they will coach both of you… you or

three or four whoever is going through this particular issue having this let’s

call it a disagreement for lack of a better word. So you go through this and

the coach works with you as you try and solve this problem, you solve the

problem and then collectively you learn about what it is…”

“…you can learn about applying it, but you are not actually applying it…”

“…now you have all the theory and you can only apply up to the stage

20. Lacked hands-on (practical)

dimension.

137

where it makes sense to you, but if that connection was still there…”

“…Okay, what I can add before I leave. The sunrise we had this theoretical

and we had one on one coaching which was great. With what I have

discovered it was over 18 months for me maybe it’s just me the, I think it

will be more effective if after you have completed the training maybe

sometime ... [inaudible] then you have got all the theory then the

application to get some support even for a few months…”

“…we become a little bit more productive…” 21. Increased work productivity.

“…a person became arrogant…” 22. Increased arrogance.

“…I learnt a lot in an instant things start by having my conversation…”

“…I think I have had a lot of courageous conversations since I have been

on this program it has helped me to step out and that has been the benefit

for me is to have the conversations with people typically who would not

easily have and whether it is with my team members or whether it is my

peers, and whether it is with the management team as well still within the

framework of trying to get the things across being a lot more courageous

could benefit out of that one…”

“…So typically I mean like my environment where we have unionized

folks and we have shop stewards in the laboratory so you always have the

courageous conversations, but you have much more confidence now

because you have acquired the tools during the program to actually address

the situation much more amicably so you have this confidence to challenge

things in a way that is much more professional than bulldozing things down

people’s throats…”

“…I was going to add the point about self-awareness understanding what

an issue means to you when you are having a courageous conversation is an

important consideration…”

“…We couldn’t access or go into the country because the country has

stopped all visas being issued and what happened is when I went into that

role that was a supervisory role so I had to give guidance from a different

country specifically from the US. And it was very unique situation and you

had to make sure that people achieved their results and coaching

conversations became a lot more critical because my one on one

conversations with them you could easily establish where they are in their

journey…”

“…For me for those courageous conversations, the key thing that I learned

was preparing upfront for it. So like in the past I would just go before I was

unhappy, I would budge in and make ... [inaudible] case and you end up

going different directions. But now you realise that you need to prepare for

23. Taught me courageous

conversations.

138

this conversation. You can anticipate in your planning what the other

person might say and then you come up with a way to work around that.

So, for me if you have planned properly, even if someone has not been to

the program you can still approach them for those courageous it will still

work…”


















collaboration…”

“…I mean the fact that you honest enough to be vulnerable to them and say

I am trying this it actually plays a bit of excitement you will hear the music

some of the terms or you will sometimes jokingly in saying like in the

beginning you mentioned let’s check him because you introduced that, so I

think people are open it depends on how obvious you into this. I mean if

you say you try because it is not like you are suddenly a certified coach to

say I want to try these techniques they usually open…”

“…So for me around courageous conversations firstly just having them was

a big thing for me because I would happily try [unclear 0:21:04] issue and

then the pinch point would come and that was one of the key learning’s for

me and I still use that today so it is actually just picking up and having that.

And often, the conversation it isn’t actually as hectic as I think it would be

it is just in my own mind building up all of this tension and stress and you

actually have it and you have… once you have that relationship also and

people understand what your true intentions really are it just makes it easier

but I think picking up the courage and then getting rid of those pinch points

that have really been beneficial to me over the years…”



139



















through...”

“…for example complex discussions and things like that, that was quite a

good tool that I took out of it…”

“…I’ve got experience with both of that you say better understand the team

and also within the team having courageous discussions for me it was more

about avoiding conflict it was about don’t want to hurt that person’s

feelings or anything and approaching it very subtle and not bringing the

point across through doing it in that gentle way, and so I needed to step up

a bit and be clear when I am having a courageous discussion so yes, it is

working better much better, and I am more confident in that now and I also

see that it is needed and that it is wanted as well that directness from the

team that I am managing. So it is working out, it is obviously it is still deep

down a difficult thing, but you prepare and your clear on what you want to

bring across through the tools that we have and I find it much easier in

using the tools to have those discussions on the flip, communicating up I

have had probably just about I don’t know… recently I had one it was

tough, so I had to have a courageous discussion about something I felt

strongly about again there I had a day within which to prepare my thoughts

and I always feel like if I give myself that time to prepare it is just much

better to be clear and what my [unclear 0:13:39] to voice those concerns. So

yes, I had that discussion and it went well it ended well on a very good

understanding tone and then the consequences of that also the follow up of

that was that I brought the point across and the next day we had another

discussion about the same topic and it was okay, so it is good, I agree and

we moved forward so yes it is not easy discussions, but and it was a real

intensive growth curve for me to be at a point where I am now, but I feel

140

more comfortable and confident to face it head on…”

“…For me I would say I think courageous conversations for me were

something that I avoided if I could work through [unclear 0:15:18]. I guess

it was because before Sunrise I never knew how to have one so I didn’t

know what to do in [unclear 0:15:30] so by going through Sunrise and

looking at these steps that you have to go through the preparation that you

need to go through all of a sudden what the other person might say or react

so that for me it gave me sort of confidence to [unclear 0:15:48]. Up to so

far I have had an interest of my direct reports [unclear segment] probably

that is where I might have… there might be a position for me to do that and

one of the great things that I learnt about this one is it doesn’t have to be an

aggressive… you don’t have to be aggressive it is a conversation so you

don’t want that person [unclear 0:16:30] you want to engage them and in a

way it is also involves that [unclear 0:16:38] of feedback which I think that

feedback is a gift so if I [unclear segment]…”

“…Can I just add I think what is very important part of having a

courageous conversation is preparing preparation is very important, you

cannot decide you know, I’ve had it now, I’m going to have this

conversation you got to sit back think about this, you have to maintain that

composure because if you are not prepared somewhere along the line you

going lose composure because you are basically stepping out of your

normal your behavior by having… to get yourself into a point where you

having that courageous conversation in the manner that it should be so you

have to be well prepared…”











“…I find personally I can spot where people are on the emotional curve far

easier now particularly when you are having a courageous conversation

with someone and that just helps you to determine the level of… the weight

of furthering the conversation like what is the next sentence, how does the

next sentence need to be, or how light does it need to be. So it helps you

react a lot faster to the individual on the other side of the table and that

tends to keep them there longer as well. Some people will just once they get

to a certain point in that curve they want to get over [unclear segment]. It

141

allows you because I could spot it a lot easier now it allows me to soften the

conversation just to keep them engaging to keep the information flowing

in…”

“…It was more a directive conversation and the understanding that was

brought about by Sunrise was how you go about that courageous

conversation that you don’t shut the other person off that you don’t

immediately put that person on the back foot and approach him the

courageous conversation with the mindset that she wants to take you

forward not to keep you off this conversation. I actually want to take this

relationship forward by having this courageous conversation and it is a

huge benefit because when one approaches that courageous or your

necessary conversation with a I’m going to tell you now, you immediately

shut that person off and that person doesn’t even want to respond whereas

if you approach it with okay how can we make this work, I’m having this

conversation with you because I want to take this relationship I want to

improve the position that you find yourself in now then you open up

another world for that person knowing that this conversation is coming

from the point that this person wants to support you and not push you

down…”

“…my role before Sunrise has been about making change and being one of

the focal points of making change happen in our business unit. I mentioned

earlier and I just [unclear 0:32:13] to the courageous conversations right, so

we have seen opportunity for that by having those courageous

conversations or having those conversations around what I think and… I

have been able to have more of them so it has helped in terms of getting

change across within the organization that I am within so a little bit

different to [unclear 0:32:41] experience they have been a little bit more

open in my view to changes and a lot coming from my side around that

which is has made me even just okay, so that has gone, so now I need to…

here’s an opportunity it’s good for the business rather let’s bring this

forward as well so it has helped you with that sort of confidence. I don’t

know if it is directly the program I think it is my job being like that. I think

perhaps also being a little bit more confident in bringing it forward and

putting it forward may have been as a direct result of the programs as

well…”

“…I can understand people better based on the tools that I was given…”

“…your ability to understand somebody else whatever space they are in has

also been improved and therefore that interaction that deeper level of

understanding of what is going on between you and the other individual

across the table just helps you firstly because you understand there is more

empathy immediately, unless you want to shut empathy out, but I mean

generally part of the coaching journey is to introduce empathy into every

conversation. So from that perspective at the moment you bring that to the

table it changes the complexion of the conversation immediately. So

24. Increased my understanding of

others.

142

whichever conversation you going to have after that, I do find that it is

typically easier…”

“…I think what the coaching has done has… it gets you to that courageous

conversation a lot quicker you execute on it quicker, where you would have

been hesitant because you know what this person is about, and so now what

creates that methodology says to you okay, you can get there quicker, how

can you get there quicker because there is a methodology. If you use this

methodology I think the result will come out differently and that it has also

taught you that you can’t accept I suppose you can’t control how they

would feel about that conversation so that is the other part it feels it makes

you to go there a lot quicker because you can’t control it for the other

person, you have to… so you have learnt to accept the fact that you can’t

control that person, but at least you making it visible to that person it is up

to them now to decide what is that they are they doing with that. So it is

easier for me to go there because I don’t have to control what that person

thinks, because that fear is a lot less but strong considerably…”











in…”

“…You almost know when to stop as well because if… there is a tendency

you don’t know when to stop, so the person’s receptive and then you

continue to just show up more stuff right and then, but then you realize

showing up more stuff has just pulled this person’s back up how did that

happen, but at a point you didn’t recognize where to stop and just get that

one win first and I think that is a lot more clear so let’s bank this first let’s

move away we will have the discussion about something else later this was

about this… don’t line it up when you see you are succeeding with one

thing…”

“…It did influence it the way we interact now so the latest one is the which

I discussed earlier the efficiency of the business and looking at

opportunities now to actually optimize a testing schedule for refinery so we

actually cutting down some of their not so valuable tests to create more

efficiency and I find it very easy now to actually consult with the engineers

and also their managers as to how we going to do this and instead of saying

do we need to do that and how we going to do this because we need to

143

[unclear segment] prior to Sunrise because before it was always a fight it’s

not a fight anymore so it has equipped me to actually interact at a much

higher level than what we used to…”

“…stuff like that to help me through difficult conversations coaching

conversations and that is something that I have learnt that I can take with

me far into the future because I still practice it regularly…”

“…how I do my job, I think it is pretty much the same…” 25. Did not influence my engagement

at work.

“…INTERVIEWER: Do you think that coaching program in

principle could have a positive influence on the change acceptance?

PARTICIPANT: If it is done in the right way if it’s done differently.

INTERVIEWER: That’s to say it’s accessible to a larger public it’s…

PARTICIPANT: Top down, bottom up sideways…

INTERVIEWER: And more practice and also a follow up?

PARTICIPANT: Yes absolutely I agree with you…”

26. Did not influence change

acceptance within the company.

“…it has helped you with that sort of confidence…”

“…So typically I mean like my environment where we have unionized

folks and we have shop stewards in the laboratory so you always have the

courageous conversations, but you have much more confidence now

because you have acquired the tools during the program to actually address

the situation much more amicably so you have this confidence to challenge

things in a way that is much more professional than bulldozing things down

people’s throats…”

“…So in terms of relating higher up… currently we have challenges where

there are discussions around like we how we make our organization more

efficient and there are issues of being more efficient with our resources and

I see that I must have much more confidence of [unclear 0:24:38] to

actually challenge my manager and say what is your thinking and this is my

thinking and why must I accept your thinking here’s my [unclear 0:24:49]

there’s my substantiation so I have that confidence to do that I didn’t have

that before, so that is a good thing…”

“…I don’t think I would have been there had I not been on Sunrise purely

because I wouldn’t have had the confidence I would have felt that I run the

space if I must own the solution and no one else needs to be privy to the

solution. In actual fact, that is not what I am here for, I am actually here to

help other people understand how they can arrive at the same solution

because other problems are going to crop up and I need to be developing

solutions for those problems, I can’t keep solving the same problem over

and over that is not organizational growth and that’s not capability…”

“…actually being open and not thinking that I need to know the answer to

this question I used the word curious earlier on going down that path and

27. Increased my self-confidence.

144

not just saying I need to know the answer but being open to actually

exploring that solution with someone else and thinking my ways… I need

to give you the answer and I need to figure it out myself and engage in that

conversation with the other person or people to get something that

works…”

“…So one of the things of engagement is that I learnt to have the

confidence to say although I hide behind the slide or [unclear 0:33:11] more

confidence in speaking…”

“…PARTICIPANT: The one thing that sort of stands out I think before

Sunrise I found it difficult to say no when people come and ask for help

from me so I would tend to be overloaded because I had too much on my

plate but since Sunrise I think you are able to say no, but not just… say no

with options say I can’t do it now, but I can do it for you this time or come

back after a certain time so that I can negotiate what I can do in a sense and

I mean people initially when the [unclear 0:08:31] because I am saying no,

or I am not saying yes initially but I mean after a while they started getting

used to this new sort of me of negotiating if I can’t do it now, I can do it

later. At home and even my church I mean I was one of those back benches

and I would probably through the confidence that I gained through Sunrise

I found myself not standing up for leadership questions, but being can you

do this and I would go into it and then using those tools and even they do

work… I find this side of me which I never knew that it existed and people

are reacting positively to it.

INTERVIEWER: So what I hear is that you are able to say no, not

now, we’re going to do it later? Self-confidence?

PARTICIPANT: Yes…”

“…I am more confident in that now and I also see that it is needed and that

it is wanted as well that directness from the team that I am managing…”

“…by going through Sunrise and looking at these steps that you have to go

through the preparation that you need to go through all of a sudden what the

other person might say or react so that for me it gave me sort of

confidence…”

“…INTERVIEWER: So you would go and consult more around?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I would go into other areas of Chevron’s

businesses and say look here, we having a bit of an issue how we doing it

on that side, how you doing this there and not thinking that you are that

person’s counterpart you should be knowing how to do this or what the best

way to do it been working for Chevron for so many years so that is how it

empowered me in my role that I am okay with not knowing everything…”

“…I’ve had issues speaking out and making and presenting and all those

145

things which my coach and I also worked through and I think from that

level the level of confidence now versus back then much more, much more

comfortable and confident in addressing the topics questions whatever, and

to the extent that if I get… at first I used to get like really bad butterflies

whatever you call it if I am asked to present to Martin or to the CEO or to

the Board of Directors or… and now it’s like it’s just another thing it is just

another presentation prepare well and go and deliver and face the questions

and… so yes all of the fear is basically gone but it is the tools, it is the self-

awareness and it’s the practicing it over time just to become more confident

in that and so for me it is good it has been all positive…”

“…It’s just that realization that I too have something to contribute like I

said earlier on in meetings I would be quiet and be in the room but not

really participating, but after this having gained that confidence and you

know that I am even able to voice an opinion that might not necessarily be

the prevailing opinion in this meeting so I find that I’m now contributing

more than I did before and I am able to engage people and really challenge

them if I have to push [unclear 0:31:54] might just push back and back up

why I want to do that as well…”

“…INTERVIEWER: It seems in your case this change was actually

extremely impressive because it goes from not speaking at all to not clearly

voicing your point of view, very assertively pushing forward certain points.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, it’s that…”

“…now I think I’ve got the confidence…”



















146
































well…”

“…You keep on in the situations where you would normally not raise your

opinion, now you start deliberately, intentionally doing it…”










28. Helped me introduce change.

147







well…”

“…I think the program in that sense has helped me around how to get that

influence… the same message exactly the same type of things but it is how

do I do this and it is engage people a little bit more, get their inputs but I am

still coming with my bits and I am getting a lot more across that is from my

experience…”

“…it allows me to guide or influence from a leadership level right down to

an employee level…”

29. Increased my capacity to

influence others.

“…Not really observed I couldn’t say one way or the other [unclear

0:35:41] well not within my work…”

“…I think it is a kind of a situation where your pool that you are working

with is too small compared to like a droplet in the ocean so I don’t see that

significant change but to me like Donavan’s team would be part of my

customer’s that I would engage with and there are issues out there, but I

mean we I think we deal with it as and when it comes and don’t see any

significant changes or issues and part of it is probably my perception is part

of it is probably because I am just one individual within the group just one

particular department it’s slightly influenced change and sometimes you are

being swamped by all these other issues…”

30. Did not influence the ability to

deal with clients/customers.

“…it allows me to identify quickly what the opportunity is then try and

relay the leader in that way to develop either whether it’s an opportunity

where we need to build more trust, or is it opportunity to be able to have a

bit more robust conversation direct conversations to get into a different

result or a different direction…”

“…I was going to say the same thing I no longer send an email I go to the

person and say and I do the same thing… it’s about understanding making

sure expectations are clear and we understand what they are looking for,

making sure that they understand where it is coming from why it is needed

and you get more support, and you get more buy in, it is much easier and I

also don’t have direct reports, I have to [unclear 0:28:22] obviously support

means certain projects some of them and it’s helped tremendously in that

space where people are more committed to give you what you were looking

for…”

“…I sort of had a good feel for where they were and where the one would

take a lot longer journey with me than the other one, where the other one

was already on execution phase after we had engaged, and commit to

getting it done, where the other one was just resisting to what was

31. Helped me better identify

opportunities-oriented

conversations.

148

happening. So that was a very peculiar and a very interesting journey for

me and how all of that played out, how we build our relationships to get

things done through the organization even if we haven’t met each other at

all…”

“…I’m going to relate it back to my previous experience and what I did in

terms of innovation to get a little bit more trust leeway buy in from that

team so I had my one on one conversations on Sundays their day started on

a Sunday my day didn’t I didn’t have to, but I said let me do that so that

they then could say okay, he is making an effort to spend some time with us

on a day that he is supposed to actually rest and he knows that that’s not our

rest day, but he also doesn’t bother us on a Friday when it is my rest day.

So in terms of innovation I said okay, let me give some time on that Sunday

to actually engage them at that level, so performance discussions happened

on a Sunday one on one discussions happen on a Sunday, anything relating

to where they are struggling, how I can remove some of those barriers

happen on a Sunday, so I think for me, just to understand where they come

from and have empathy for that sort of allowed me to build a better trust

relationship with some of those folks as well…”

“…And on the other side as well when you are getting resistance you are

able to negotiate those to say I can understand you are quite busy now, will

it work for next week you know, it opens up a mind to those options that

you are giving somebody else you know options rather than saying I want

this and I want it now. And especially if you have got people that report to

you, you need to then to know, to make sure that they understand that they

have got priorities competing, competing priorities but at the same time

there is something else that needs to be done can you negotiate, can you

make a plan. So ja…”

“…stuff like that to help me through difficult conversations coaching

conversations and that is something that I have learnt that I can take with

me far into the future because I still practice it regularly…”

“…also personally how to manage some of those conversations as well…”

“…I can say about the coaching as well it’s it helped me at work but I think

I have used it more at home though…”

“…now I am choosing my battles at home like this one is like it’s not the

way I think before getting worked up over it but I mean before I would

whatever whatever. So I would be stressed at home then I come to work

and then there is some stress at work but now I feel like when I get home I

am free…”

“…So in the beginning I did find that there was this difference in reaction

and in the value you were able to engage with those who went through

Sunrise and those who didn’t but I think as time went on and people

32. Helped me manage private-life

conversations.

149

observed that there is a difference in the way you doing things it kind of

influenced how they were then reacting to you because what they were used

to seeing is this particular person and now they seeing this person suddenly

it’s a bit of a almost a culture structure, they don’t know if they can trust it

and after seeing that a couple of times, I mean I even observed that with my

children whereas their dad used to be like this and then suddenly dad is

sitting me down and okay son now you tell me how… but as time went on

that became the norm you could see okay, they understanding that this is

the way that things are done and I see that with colleagues as well and yet

people can say they are still afraid of you, but things are okay now we can

open up to you because you see a different person. As I said initially yes,

but as time got on and people got used to okay this is the way things are

done now…”

“…It’s completely different but I mean even at home now I don’t really

react to some situations that happened I just look at them like this is not

worth my time I must just I will deal with this later on I need to think about

it not just to react because something happened..”

“…there was where you identified your because all of a sudden your

weaknesses and your strengths…”

33. Helped me identify my strengths

and weaknesses?

“…I think for me that is also a big learning in it not every interaction needs

to be reactionary but it is actually you get a better outcome if it is planned

and if you know what tool to address or to utilize for particular scenario

you actually get the kind of outcome that you want…”

“…But I do think it with that self-awareness and with planning when we

are going to have those courageous conversations you may need to do that.

You can’t just soon into somebody’s office and you know, you need to plan

and say this is probably going to be a touchy conversation how do we

approach it. What kind of questions that I need to do, if you do that, it felt

for me I see it helps but obviously it depends on the other person how they

get the message from you because they have never been to Sunrise and so

they probably, it’s not easy to receive feedback regardless of how you put

it, you much you prepare? Some people still struggle receiving it. But I do

think at least it puts a positive spin because from your approach you are not

coming out negative, you have prepared for that. So I do think on the

whole, I do think once you prepare it, it actually ... [interjects]…”

“…For me for those courageous conversations, the key thing that I learned

was preparing upfront for it. So like in the past I would just go before I was

unhappy, I would budge in and make ... [inaudible] case and you end up

going different directions. But now you realise that you need to prepare for

this conversation. You can anticipate in your planning what the other

person might say and then you come up with a way to work around that.

So, for me if you have planned properly, even if someone has not been to

34. Helped me plan/prepare (re-

)actions.

150

the program you can still approach them for those courageous it will still

work…”

“…I think for me in terms of power its empowered me to so, if I need to

probably ask people for something, I aways ask myself those questions that

I think people would ask. So I go there prepared knowing that when I

present and whatever, I don’t expect any questions so I try and poke myself

to ask those questions. They would ask this, have you thought of that, have

you thought of that. So I always try and do those thing and I think the other

empowerment I got from the coaching is before I would have never have

given my supervisor feedback or have the courageous conversation because

of like whatever, he is a supervisor so what and whatever whatever. So I

will kind if be frustrated with whatever that I felt he has done wrong or he

should have done and then I will deal with it my own way then I will get

over it, ja but now I mean I am able to get that feedback because I know

how to prepare for it and I know like you know so I have got the tools now

to be able to do it so…”

“…You keep on in the situations where you would normally not raise your

opinion, now you start deliberately, intentionally doing it…”

“…I think for me I have been someone who kind of play with ideas and I

will say this idea. But I think after the coaching I am kind of, I think more

about the idea right, I just don’t say let’s do this and then I am like okay so

how do we do it. So now I think after this coaching I am, as I said, I ask

myself these questions, why this idea how am I going to do it and then I try

and get as more information as I can. Instead of just saying, how about we

do something and then I say okay so how will we go about doing it and

then we are like okay. I will still think about it. So even if I have got an

idea at that moment, I won’t say because, I won’t say let’s do this and then

I don’t have more information on the idea. So I will kind of, even if I say it

afterwards and then email to say I have got this idea and I think this is how

we are going to can we go about doing it. So I get more information now

before I can present my ideas…”

“…But, I think it also goes the other way around because when you go into

a conversation with someone your supervisor or whatever it has taught me

to also have thought through because while you going to look for advice

you need to also have done your homework before you… you not just

going to go and say what must I do this is what I am thinking, what do you

think kind of… and that sort of conversation because if you reporting to

someone who is very much a coach type of leader they going to put that

question back throw it back at you so you going to… I have learnt that you

better be prepared some thinking and not just go and expect an answer

because that then puts you on the spot I think it works both ways…”

“…Can I just add I think what is very important part of having a

151

courageous conversation is preparing preparation is very important, you

cannot decide you know, I’ve had it now, I’m going to have this

conversation you got to sit back think about this, you have to maintain that

composure because if you are not prepared somewhere along the line you

going lose composure because you are basically stepping out of your

normal your behavior by having… to get yourself into a point where you

having that courageous conversation in the manner that it should be so you

have to be well prepared…”

























“…I think for me that is also a big learning in it not every interaction needs

to be reactionary but it is actually you get a better outcome if it is planned

and if you know what tool to address or to utilize for particular scenario

you actually get the kind of outcome that you want…”

“…There was something you mentioned earlier about listening not to reply

about listening to really understand and that helps with collaboration that

helps to get the person onto your side as well to drive your particular

position as well, but then also get their position and try to get some sort of

consensus as well, I think that also collaborates is really listening to

understand instead of trying to reply or to respond to something that… so

you already have a predisposed position about what you going to respond to

the person already so that from a coaching perspective that helps a lot…”

35. Taught me that not every

interaction needs to be

reactionary.

152

“…Ja. I think that goes for me and as well it, I think it taught me not to

react to situation but to respond to situation. So there is big difference

between the two because obviously when someone gives you feedback

whether it is constructive or whatever, you out up your guard and you want

to respond and in your mind already you have got stuff to like to kind of

respond to that person back. So it’s, ja, it taught me not to react to situation

rather to respond. Ja, that was what’s good for me…”

“…So sometimes when someone gives you feedback let’s say so I think the

coaching is its, it teaches you to kind of, you plan for your feedback right

but not everybody has been through that so some people they just go into

your office and then they just give you feedback. So obviously you are

going to, like when a person in talking, you are going to think in your mind

that what am I supposed, what am I going to say back to this person and

you want to protect yourself right, so you kind of build that guide…”





“…now because you don’t react you listen and try to understand where

people are coming from and try to be accommodative while you are still

you know prioritising your interest and you get that collaborative sense that

we are not fighting one another. I hear where you are coming from, how

can I accommodate the one person but at the same time make sure that what

I want does happen. So you have got that skill now, that ability of just

listening to the person you know trying to ask you probing questions and

make sure that you are, make sure that he or she notices that you are aware

of their concerns, address their concerns but at the same time still push your

agenda to make sure that whatever it is that you need to needs to happen,

happens and you come out of that with a win win situation basically. So I

think it doesn’t because you are quite aware of other people’s interests not

just about me, it’s about this person it’s about other people as well in the

group. So I do think it just opens up your mind to say this is just not about

me, it’s about everybody else’s interests. Let’s come out of this with a

common understanding and common agreement…”

“…It’s completely different but I mean even at home now I don’t really

react to some situations that happened I just look at them like this is not

worth my time I must just I will deal with this later on I need to think about

it not just to react because something happened..”

“…So Ja now I am choosing my battles at home like this one is like it’s not

the way I think before getting worked up over it but I mean before I would

whatever whatever. So I would be stressed at home then I come to work

and then there is some stress at work but now I feel like when I get home I

153

am free…”

“…there is a little bit of technical skills or leadership skill that they

give you, but the personal development is very big and it doesn’t…

you cannot only apply it to work, but apply it to your personal life

and I think for me personally, it has already helped like in many

different situations…”

36. Helped me in my personal life.

“…the willingness that I can engage with people differently and understand

where they are coming from and I understand where you are at that time

makes a big difference in your ability to work with others…”

“…I can only understand myself first, then I would understand where

people are coming from…”

“…if you are dealing with any issue of work, or when you are working with

a colleague for me it allows you to think of this person not only as another

tool or like this is a personal relationship but the is actually a person and a

person has a different environment or background or something that is

happening within their head, it sort of allows you to connect better with

them and understand them better, and make yourself understood. And I

think for me that’s a big benefit…”















in…”

“…because here you have not just I don’t think the cultural difference was

a big issue, but to understand who they are and where they come from and

what are the conditions was very different to the conditions that I am used

to so I had to really open myself up and to imagine what is it that they need

to do, why they working a six hour day or a five hour day, what is that all

about versus what my expectations are…”

“…I sort of had a good feel for where they were and where the one would

37. Enabled me to better understand

where my interlocutors come

from.

154

take a lot longer journey with me than the other one, where the other one

was already on execution phase after we had engaged, and commit to

getting it done, where the other one was just resisting to what was

happening. So that was a very peculiar and a very interesting journey for

me and how all of that played out, how we build our relationships to get

things done through the organization even if we haven’t met each other at

all…”

“…INTERVIEWER: So you can better identify the person that you

have in front of you or in your case over the phone or wherever the

interaction be.


“…I think for me, just to understand where they come from and have

empathy for that sort of allowed me to build a better trust relationship with

some of those folks as well…”










“…within the tool that they use from the very first module was this [unclear

0:14:00] structure of interpretation so once that was embedded in my that

we all interpret things differently it became easy for me to be aware so

when we do these things or when we work like this, when we talk like this

or when we behave like this, this is where different people are coming from

and the way I react or respond because this is where I am coming from so I

do understand where there is a conflict or I do understand where… so

therefore it gave me a tool to say okay, this is how I can avoid conflict, this

is how I can avoid being misunderstood because I’ve got a base of

understanding that they come from a different place where I come from so

it became a tool for me to be build to understand where I fit into the

position but even where others fit into my role in the organization…”

“…Which is one of the tools you would give them but making sure you

collaborate with the people… because I said people come [unclear 0:16:50

some of them understand specifically their roles and some of them

understand their roles broader so because they understand their roles

differently other people need to know what is in for me in order for me to

collaborate with you on these… so you go to anticipate other people just

155

once work for themselves, other people want to work for the greater good

of the organization. But, both of them are right…”

“…I think with the help of the coaching it doesn’t allow me to look at

something as okay this person needs this, how can I respond if I can’t get it,

how can I frame that so that it is not seen as a rejection but you get that

person’s understanding of your challenges etcetera so that relationship

becomes a l little bit more positive instead of just a closed thing where you

just try to pack everything away because you’ve got so much work or

whatever. That is the only thing that I can think where it has helped me

with that sort of internal customer relation…”





courageous conversation with the mind-set that she wants to take you











down…”

“…I think for me in that sense I think I am more open minded and what hit

home in Sunrise for me was understanding people’s structure of

interpretation so when I am interacting with you not just seeing what you

saying, but also looking at everything looking at the body language maybe

the unsaid as well, and really in that sense be open to engage in a more

better manner I think…”

“…Where does that comment coming from not just see okay you telling me

but where does it come from where do you come from, what makes you

think that way so kindness opens you up to be more understanding and

considering and getting the best out of the conversation…”

“…INTERVIEWER: Is there the notion of putting yourself in the

shoes of the other?

PARTICIPANT: Yes exactly I’ve got to put myself in their shoes to

understand what it is and make them understand that I understand what they

are going through what makes life difficult for them and make them

156

know… it is like this comment that says people don’t care what they

[unclear 0:43:50] so making them know that you actually care about the

situation [unclear 0:44:01] and still making them know that you understand

they kind of a willing to how can I say, to satisfy your need as well because

you have another customer to serve and then also as I said understanding

your customer knowing who he is he is going to be presenting to knowing

who it is who is asking the question and what each one of them need is

what needs to be fed when you respond to them because you could just

okay this is the way I respond and do that in a blanket manner and you

don’t satisfy the customer…”

“…Just on that and what has been said around the customer I mean Sunrise

is basically helped me to understand that you got to understand each one of

those customers I mean for instance the leadership deal and Lindi

mentioned now about when you busy interacting with a scientist you can

speak at that level so clients communicating finance to a non-financial

manager so don’t assume that your customer knows what you are talking

about it has allowed you to treat each one of them differently and know

what each one needs so that the one needs you do go into detail the other

one doesn’t actually care about the detail so it’s about understanding each

ones need as a different customer and not say [unclear 0:47:58]…”





















through…”

“…I’m going to relate it back to my previous experience and what I did in

terms of innovation to get a little bit more trust leeway buy in from that

157

team so I had my one on one conversations on Sundays their day started on

a Sunday my day didn’t I didn’t have to, but I said let me do that so that

they then could say okay, he is making an effort to spend some time with us

on a day that he is supposed to actually rest and he knows that that’s not our

rest day, but he also doesn’t bother us on a Friday when it is my rest day.

So in terms of innovation I said okay, let me give some time on that Sunday

to actually engage them at that level, so performance discussions happened

on a Sunday one on one discussions happen on a Sunday, anything relating

to where they are struggling, how I can remove some of those barriers

happen on a Sunday, so I think for me, just to understand where they come

from and have empathy for that sort of allowed me to build a better trust

relationship with some of those folks as well…”

“…you show a level of empathy towards that person that they get where

you are coming from because he actually gets where I am coming from and

that gets you quicker to some sort of consensus how we move forward, is

that a different approach to that point or not. I think that is probably the one

the really big one that was for me was good and hard to get past some of

the issues that you have with colleagues and to move all into the same

direction as well…”

“…and I was kind of trying to be curious about this not kind of what you

think it is and that is your view and so being curious being open to okay

maybe that is something else happening for that person or they’ve got a

different perception that you haven’t even kind of thought of or touched on

and you willing to kind to go down that road if that is the way I think it is

so therefore it is…”

“…your ability to understand somebody else whatever space they are in has

also been improved and therefore that interaction that deeper level of

understanding of what is going on between you and the other individual

across the table just helps you firstly because you understand there is more

empathy immediately, unless you want to shut empathy out, but I mean

generally part of the coaching journey is to introduce empathy into every

conversation. So from that perspective at the moment you bring that to the

table it changes the complexion of the conversation immediately. So

whichever conversation you going to have after that, I do find that it is

typically easier…”

“…You almost know when to stop as well because if… there is a tendency

you don’t know when to stop, so the person’s receptive and then you

continue to just show up more stuff right and then, but then you realize

showing up more stuff has just pulled this person’s back up how did that

happen, but at a point you didn’t recognize where to stop and just get that

one win first and I think that is a lot more clear so let’s bank this first let’s

move away we will have the discussion about something else later this was

about this… don’t line it up when you see you are succeeding with one

38. Increased my level of empathy.

158

thing…”

“…And I had to also obviously put myself in their shoes how do they see

me so there was a very I think for some of them it was easy to relate and for

some of them they didn’t understand why I was supervising and why not

one of them in their immediate environment what is that all about so there

was somebody’s in culture there was some resistance as well so there was a

couple of things and for some it was easier than the others so it was really

interesting to go through that process with them and I would have liked to

have actually stayed longer to actually get to where I felt comfortable

where everyone is now achieving I was never given that opportunity

unfortunately I had to come back…”



some of those folks as well…”










“…when you are having issues you don’t bring your emotions into the

discussion or into the issue that has been discussed so you tend to be more

professional because you don’t bring the emotion in…”

“…Exactly the emotions come out it is either when the emotions come out

that I shut off in the past and not do anything about it or ignore it and then it

would just spin in your head for a while and you kind of go away I don’t

want to deal with it but no, now it is… it is working out…”

39. Taught me how not to bring

emotions into professional

matters.

“…I find that it is easier when you are dealing with people that are on a

similar level to you in an organization or on a sub-ordinate level to the

organization because it is much tougher when you are dealing with people

that are higher up in the organization who have got more competing

challenges and have got a predetermined outcome for a discussion and now

you come with your social science wishy washy and trying to sway them an

push them into a different direction to have a different outlook…”

“…I think it’s more difficult when its report like it’s my Supervisor. I think

it’s easier when its colleagues or the people that report to me. When it’s

your supervisor and you are trying to enforce those kind of things it’s very

40. It made conversations easier

when dealing with same or sub-

ordinate level colleagues.

159

frustrating…”

“…I find that it is easier when you are dealing with people that are on a

similar level to you in an organization or on a sub-ordinate level to the

organization because it is much tougher when you are dealing with people

that are higher up in the organization who have got more competing

challenges and have got a predetermined outcome for a discussion and now

you come with your social science wishy washy and trying to sway them an

push them into a different direction to have a different outlook…”

“…I think it’s more difficult when its report like it’s my Supervisor. I think

it’s easier when its colleagues or the people that report to me. When it’s

your supervisor and you are trying to enforce those kind of things it’s very

frustrating…”

“…PARTICIPANT: No, no, I agree with you 100% what I am saying is

often when you are dealing with somebody who is senior to you then

maybe a time constraint to the action so there is a time level on it and if

they are not receptive to the language that you were using, or the coaching

language that you are using you no longer have the luxury of time you now

need to develop an affirmative engagement strategy and often it means you

backtrack in engaging the way they want the engagement to take place

which doesn’t mean that it is a failure, it just means that you now have

flexibility and you don’t have the opportunity to utilize that…

PARTICIPANT: I think I know what you mean I think you are

referring to you want the opportunity to influence that leader and the leader

is not giving you the opportunity they not receiving the message they are

inflexible at that point in time and I suppose I can relate to the other side of

that, is that that point doesn’t engage then I know there are time constraints,

but then you have to sort of make a decision whether that is going to

actually be the right time. If it is not the right time then you have to either

go forward and take the rejection or use pause and use another time to

actually influence in a different way. I mean I think we expect our leaders

to look at us with a level of sincerity by how we approach them about… it’s

not about… we don’t have an agenda we come with a real business

objective to achieve whatever we need to achieve…”






for example.



41. It made conversations more

challenging when dealing with

higher level colleagues.

160









“…PARTICIPANT: Well I had two supervisors that have gone through

so I think when I had to have a courageous conversation with the other one,

because he has gone through sunrise. So I think at first he kind of went the

defensive way but then he realised the ... [interjects]


INTERVIEWER: Ja, the self-reflection and then I could see there was

that standing back and then later where he said I think he had to say it and

whatever. But I think I understand Lolo’s where, if its someone who is

higher up who hasn’t gone through because I think I have been also been

asking questions like giving feedback to people even my supervisor’s

supervisor. So it’s like they really don’t understand and it’s frustrating so,

but ja, I mean you just have to take it, when it happens…”

“…That is always the thing for me it was still very tough even after I had

the tools to have the courageous conversations it was still very tough to

come and have it with direct supervisor because they had not been on the

program…”

“…And if they are not ready then it’s like you not ready and I get that let it

go, and maybe at a later point you can be ready. I don’t think sometimes

okay maybe I’m not speaking for you I’m saying I’m thinking of a real

example this week when a colleague of mine was like shut off on a

particular issue and I just realized actually this person isn’t ready to go and

engage and foster a better relationship with another colleague you know

just let it go, it will come back at a later point…”

“…I am able to let it go more easily I am like you know what they are

doing that it’s okay I will deal with that later on with when I have time

whatever so I just let it go sometimes so…”

42. Taught me to “let go”.

“…I mean as touched on earlier it develops you as a person your emotional

intelligence has improved…”

43. Helped me develop my emotional

intelligence.

“…I am less anxious about things that I request so if I request something

from someone typically in the past what I would do is I would be checking

44. Lowered my anxiety level.

161

on them on a daily basis how is this coming along whereas I have a

conversation with them this is what I require can you assist, if you can’t

assist can you find someone else, and then I will set a time with them, can

we just check… can we go to milestone[?] check at a certain point in time

and just like to have a deliverable whereas in the past it would be like I

would be on the case every day…”

“…I am less anxious about things that I request so if I request something

from someone typically in the past what I would do is I would be checking

on them on a daily basis how is this coming along whereas I have a

conversation with them this is what I require can you assist, if you can’t

assist can you find someone else, and then I will set a time with them, can

we just check… can we go to milestone[?] check at a certain point in time

and just like to have a deliverable whereas in the past it would be like I

would be on the case every day…”

“…I think what I wanted to add was around the micro-managing from a

management point of view I sense and I don’t know if it’s my managery[?]

style but actually my performance I think has improved because I also

make sure that my expectations are clear both ways, so it’s people that help

me with certain projects and then people who I report to I make it clear that

this is a reasonable expectation and this is unreasonable and this is what I

am doing so that they also clear so it works both ways, and I think that

helps both from micro managing downward and like managing upwards if

I can put it that way…”

“…In terms of micro managing I mean prior to Sunrise I used to micro

manage I didn’t allow the people to make the mistakes because sometimes

mistakes are costly for the laboratory…”

“…Yes, it is still costly now so for laboratory if you a [unclear 0:30:02] go

into millions but I have stepped back a bit and allowing the guys to make

the mistakes not to [unclear 0:30:13] the fact that it may impact the

business but we at a certain stage now the majority that we have to allow

these things to happen otherwise you going to kill yourself motivating

people and costing you being on people’s back and to the [unclear 0:30:28]

so that has changed. Also the motivation has changed the way you

continuously motivate people you now allowing themselves…”

“…Yes, it’s more like that empowering them and then also in terms of like

helping in [unclear 0:30:48] because I’m allowing the people to think and

just learn from it and the build the organization that way. People are

involved to actually make decisions and to actually do more accurate

meaningful work so that helped me to step back at least starting more

strategic for the laboratory moving forward and have a shaping curve for

the next few years it allowed me the time to do that to look at that in a

strategic way now instead of doing day to day operations…”

45. Decreased the presence and the

level of micromanagement within

the company.

162

“…INTERVIEWER: Does it mean that an increased level of trust

would also be one of the results of the SLP?

PARTICIPANT: That’s right yes…”



some of those folks as well...”
















“…Ja they had a module specifically on building trust. So what’s good

with that when people react in a different way you may find that somehow,

there is something that you could have done or you can do to rebuild their

trust. So, it helps you to always be on the lookout, what is my contribution

to this situation, what can I do better, what can I improve. So you are not

always so you are not always on the defensive in the past I would be

defensive, I fight back and I but now, take that step back and say okay,

maybe there is something that I did wrong or something that I could do in a

different way. So in that way, it was good…”

“…Ja and I think the other thing that, in terms of building relationships,

sometimes you are this person that everybody goes to when they want

something done right and they know it’s going to get done and sometimes

you lack on other stuff and you don’t treat like let’s say situations the same.

So I think what it helped me was to be able to say fine, I understand, you

want me to do this but I can’t now can we negotiate better like the time that

I will be able to give you your deliverables. Because I have got other

priorities So now people are able to see that you, you are not missing your

deadlines because you are kind of taking everything now they are able to

trust that okay, if I go to ... [inaudible] we can be able to negotiate and then

but I know that I will get my deliverable. So I think then people get to trust

and yes to know that you will deliver…”

46. Increased the level of trust within

the company.

163

“…Yes, I wouldn’t say distance I would say just how one approaches it

rather than head on and going in with maybe your default behavior but

giving the other person comfort to actually open up to you and likewise

yourself feeling uncomfortable to open up to others because one tends to

think that you are being pre-charged but to actually understand that exactly

I’m needing to understand you or simply needing to understand me…”

“…I guess for me there has always been a sense of trust in the team the

level of trust though I think has grown but more from me opening up, but

giving more of myself as my coach calls it to the team there’s definitely an

increase in those trust levels amongst the team closely knitted sharing our

thoughts, feeling free to share and assisting… all of us assisting each other

so we are functioning quite well as a group…”

“…So in the beginning I did find that there was this difference in reaction

and in the value you were able to engage with those who went through

Sunrise and those who didn’t but I think as time went on and people

observed that there is a difference in the way you doing things it kind of

influenced how they were then reacting to you because what they were used

to seeing is this particular person and now they seeing this person suddenly

it’s a bit of a almost a culture structure, they don’t know if they can trust it

and after seeing that a couple of times, I mean I even observed that with my

children whereas their dad used to be like this and then suddenly dad is

sitting me down and okay son now you tell me how… but as time went on

that became the norm you could see okay, they understanding that this is

the way that things are done and I see that with colleagues as well and yet

people can say they are still afraid of you, but things are okay now we can

open up to you because you see a different person. As I said initially yes,

but as time got on and people got used to okay this is the way things are

done now…”

“…For me again I found that people would more [unclear 0:32:27] engage

me they felt more comfortable in approaching me about issues and that they

weren’t going to get blasted if I can call it that so they found me an easier

person to work with them so that is what I found in the past people would

go around and ask someone else to ask. People are more open and willing

to ask me for help and to even if they couldn’t meet a deadline come and

speak to me beforehand and say look we not able to… and okay, let’s get a

way around it because in the past some people I would see it as couldn’t

you let me know beforehand that you wouldn’t make it, but in the

meantime it was like… I’m not going to make it and not realizing that

actually he is okay, I can go and speak to him about it and say I am not able

to make it can we negotiate so that what I found that people were more

open to engage me about certain issues…”

164

“…I mean the fact that you honest enough to be vulnerable to them and say

I am trying this it actually plays a bit of excitement you will hear the music

some of the terms or you will sometimes jokingly in saying like in the

beginning you mentioned let’s check him because you introduced that, so I

think people are open it depends on how obvious you into this. I mean if

you say you try because it is not like you are suddenly a certified coach to

say I want to try these techniques they usually open…”

“…I think it’s a lot of it this particular time because especially in your

coaching circle the degree to which you made yourself vulnerable and

exposed yourself and really opened up and where other people opened up

and shared with you it had that kind of almost enforced intimacy into that,

but along with that, what was necessary to that was trust and so that trust

doesn’t just go away because the program ended and I think that’s what is

kind of still carrying us forward…”

“…I think it also helped because that whole kind of thing is that the right

person that you put in your request so when you did that particular module

is that the right person you putting your request in and be very specific

about what you need from them and by when so that is always a challenge

[unclear 0:26:55] I actually want this but I’m not keen to ask for it because

I need it in five days or ten days and this person has probably got 110

things to do, but just being clever, this what I need, why I need it and just

being sure that it is the right person that you are sending it to, so that kind

of… helps a bit of it there is no one else I can ask I need it from you…”

“…I think one of the steps that I have done is maybe just to engage that

person depends on what the task is if it is something big right is actually to

go and engage a person and just make my thinking visible around and so I

thinking you can help me with this… this is the reason why before I just go

and say we love to send emails, so I’m trying to have a bit of a conversation

first so we are on some sort of same level so that when that request hits

them it’s kind of either supply or tested actually are you the right person or

not the right person for it but it depends on the task you can’t do that with

everything…”

47. Increased my capability to

identify the right person to put

request to.

“…I think another thing that comes to mind, one is willing to now not

willing sorry, you acknowledge people easier, it is easier now, it seems

easier now to acknowledge them and more obvious than what it was before.

Before you felt like you were kind of trying to handle them, not handle is

the wrong word, but trying to manage them and now you kind of like sitting

back and saying it is very clear about you want to… and if you give me

something and it looks like this, that is okay, so I just think it is easier also

to now go back to people and say well done, maybe even give some

positive feedback or…”

48. Made it easier to acknowledge

colleagues’ work.

“…I sense and I don’t know if it’s my managery[?] style but actually my

performance I think has improved because I also make sure that my

49. Improved my overall

165

expectations are clear both ways, so it’s people that help me with certain

projects and then people who I report to I make it clear that this is a

reasonable expectation and this is unreasonable and this is what I am doing

so that they also clear so it works both ways, and I think that helps both

from micro managing downward and like managing upwards if I can put it

that way…”

performance.

“…Yes, it’s more like that empowering them and then also in terms of like

helping in [unclear 0:30:48] because I’m allowing the people to think and

just learn from it and the build the organization that way. People are

involved to actually make decisions and to actually do more accurate

meaningful work so that helped me to step back at least starting more

strategic for the laboratory moving forward and have a shaping curve for

the next few years it allowed me the time to do that to look at that in a

strategic way now instead of doing day to day operations…”

“…[unclear 0:36:01] lot of opportunity where in [unclear 0:36:05] issues

into troubleshoot so I was the forefront of that I stepped back a bit let the

junior folk to actually interrogate a challenge… a testing challenge and I

see they very much [unclear 0:36:22] inquisitive to get involved and that

was part of a different aspect of their work and so they were much more

motivated to come to work because they have this extra thing that they

were empowered to do so… looking forward to coming to work because of

and given that opportunity [unclear segment] it was a very… testing

equipment there’s specifications you can’t just allow the people to fiddle

with the instrument and suddenly you do [unclear 0:36:57] or it is on

specification and then the [unclear 0:37:02 – 0:37:18] very important that

the specifications meet the prescription of the test so I was given the

opportunity to actually do troubleshooting [unclear 0:37:29]…”



















50. Taught me how to empower

people/colleagues.

166


“…I don’t think I would have been there had I not been on Sunrise purely

because I wouldn’t have had the confidence I would have felt that I run the

space if I must own the solution and no one else needs to be privy to the

solution. In actual fact, that is not what I am here for, I am actually here to

help other people understand how they can arrive at the same solution

because other problems are going to crop up and I need to be developing

solutions for those problems, I can’t keep solving the same problem over

and over that is not organizational growth and that’s not capability…”

“…And you making him a valuable member of his team now yes so he

becomes the person they rely on…”

“…For me if I think of my kind of pre Sunrise depending on the

circumstances I would be very directive in terms of how I would want

things done and this is the way it should be and I would be very kind of this

is how someone will make me happy. And then through Sunrise also a

process not always 100% even today but it just allowed me to give others

the space to show what they could come up with, so not for me to be so

prescriptive to always presume that not presume that I know best, but this is

the best way to tackle it, but just creating that space and by asking the right

types of questions also allow peoples thinking and creativity to come

through and I must say recently I was surprised at the solution that came

through pleasantly surprised because in my mind in terms of this IT

problem this was it, there was no really clear solution and then two of the

team members and even more junior team members came up with this thing

where they did their own testing and came and it was so great to see this

journey that I would like to think that we have all been on because we have

worked together over these few years and just to see how for about three

years we worked together and my relationship initially compared to where

we are now or even they have that confidence to say, I know you are

thinking like this, because people always tell me we know how you think

but here is something different and so for me that is also being great

because it is not just how I interact with the team, but how they have also

felt free to come up with other solutions where it may not have been the

logical or for me the easiest one to see at the time.

INTERVIEWER: So this openness that you have actually contributed

to their empowerment?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: You would empower them and you will tell them

here guys you can bring solutions actually for me they would be more

courageous in bringing those [unclear 0:38:25]

PARTICIPANT: Exactly especially for the junior team members

because I don’t know how it is in other teams and organizations but there

definitely is a sense of almost hierarchy and so it is almost depending

167

on…”

“…I think coaching in a way forces the person who is being coached to

think because a lot of the times they do come thinking you going to give

them the answer and so they don’t think and I found that that was a little bit

hard at first I would just be sitting and waiting and waiting you say like

well what would you do… what did you do differently or if you had to deal

with this problem how would you do it and they haven’t thought so it’s like

muscle that you have to kind of have to start using here and train to get

creative thinking going and then you will get more of it…”

“…Yes, because you teaching that person then to think maybe a little bit

more about grammar to think about the way they have written something

about… put themselves in the shoes of the audience reading that is it simple

enough is it plain enough or whatever…”

“…My previous supervisor was on Sunrise before I was on [unclear

0:19:34] so what happened is that when some of my colleagues even myself

when we go to him and say listen we are stuck and we want to… we want

help because we were not aware of Sunrise then he would essentially coach

us and he became frustrated because we looking for an answer for this thing

and he asked questions for us to figure it out for ourselves, so on [unclear

0:20:02] we would have probably been better for him to sort of say listen,

I’m going to try something new can we try doing it this way instead of me

trying to tell you what to do, you can just try this different approach which

is for myself that is what I am doing so instead of just coaching or doing

this thing so people without knowing I would say listen I’ve done this thing

and let’s try this new approach and then see and we can get feedback and

how was it for you so [unclear segment] and they understood why I was not

giving them the answer but were trying to get them to figure out why that

for me it is sort of… I was empowered by being on the course but also

trying to get them to start with some of the stuff that I have learnt [unclear

segment]…”

“…And the sense of letting somebody grow and empowering that person

within their role and letting them make their own decisions and also… so

for me it’s about if I see a challenge the first thing I do is a risk assessment

on okay so if I let this go, where can it potentially end up, and if the risk is

low or medium or whatever, I would let it go and let them figure it out for

themselves and be available if they need help and I wouldn’t that is just the

nature in which I manage the team, I won’t jump in I will only if I see a real

challenge and then I will help but that is how we work so it’s I think they

are empowered and they feel empowered to do and they trust that I will let

them do and handle so I don’t… that probably was I don’t see any it has

always been good in that sense within our team…”

“…So I think the coaching style creates an opportunity to develop like 51. Generated creative solutions-

168

innovative solutions…”

“…my objectives for 2016 was to work on the element and my [unclear

0:40:00] capability in other words, help other people to help themselves

which is being about creating a creativity but without actually giving them

the answers because if you give people answers, they say feed a guy… give

a guy fish and you feed him for a day and teach him to fish and you will

feed him for a lifetime…”






























“…But coming back to the creativity part, I do think yes, it has given me

that new way of, because I mean it’s how you need to resolve issues so you

have got an issue, you have a way that you have always been used to

resolve the issue. Is there any other way that we can resolve this or is there

any other way we can meet each other halfway to resolve this that’s a way

of, that’ for me is creativity and also we have processes, I own processes is

finding ways of doing flexibility within the processes, without breaking the

friendly work environment.

169

rules and the laws but just finding flexibility within that. I saw that

working a lot, because you are saying we have got a process that says this

and we cannot go over this. But you know what, within this, this is what

we can do, that’s low risk and I think it hasn’t been a lot of them and the

newly found voice that I have now where I am not afraid to test that to

other people to have my views and my opinions, I do think it’s given me

light…”

“…Me it has the term that I support in the past when they always come to

me with questions and I give answers answers now what has changed when

they come to question it I probe some more, ask some more questions they

end up coming with a solution themselves now you find out that is no

creativity on their part they are getting the job done without involving me

to in to much detail with the new contractors. But what it has changed in

the fact that I am actually no longer stressing that I am not going to like

what going to happen now I am getting the results I am even contributing

most of my time in it. ... [inaudible] in that way there is a difference...”

“…For me if I think of my kind of pre Sunrise depending on the

circumstances I would be very directive in terms of how I would want

things done and this is the way it should be and I would be very kind of this

is how someone will make me happy. And then through Sunrise also a

process not always 100% even today but it just allowed me to give others

the space to show what they could come up with, so not for me to be so

prescriptive to always presume that not presume that I know best, but this is

the best way to tackle it, but just creating that space and by asking the right

types of questions also allow peoples thinking and creativity to come

through and I must say recently I was surprised at the solution that came

through pleasantly surprised because in my mind in terms of this IT

problem this was it, there was no really clear solution and then two of the

team members and even more junior team members came up with this thing

where they did their own testing and came and it was so great to see this

journey that I would like to think that we have all been on because we have

worked together over these few years and just to see how for about three

years we worked together and my relationship initially compared to where

we are now or even they have that confidence to say, I know you are

thinking like this, because people always tell me we know how you think

but here is something different and so for me that is also being great

because it is not just how I interact with the team, but how they have also

felt free to come up with other solutions where it may not have been the

logical or for me the easiest one to see at the time…”

“…I think Sunrise has generally brought about a more open minded type of

mindset that you not looking at someone stupid where his idea doesn’t gel

with what you are [unclear segment]. Okay, let’s explore it a bit more and

maybe in that way you can come up with a very good innovative solution

170

with something, rather than no this is what it is…”

“…I would say it is more sense of creating the environment where people

are free to share their ideas the section we did asking open ended questions

so I mean that we don’t have a yes or no answer so people can talk more

and in that I might not be creative but somebody else might come up with

some innovative solution to something that we are struggling with so it’s

being a [unclear 0:39:41]..”

“…My experience when it comes to creative thinking is that pre Sunrise if

you came to me with anything you wanted to bring to the table I would

listen to it as a problem that requires a solution so if I don’t have a solution

then I don’t. If I do have a solution, I do. But, what I found with the whole

coaching circle that we did at Sunrise for the first time in that coaching

circle you learn to listen and just by listening you create more space and

what I noticed when you are listening in the beginning other people may

notice that you are listening it takes a while to realize that you are listening

or what it does to them it allows more space actually to think so you not

drowning them with a solution. So because now you are listening it makes

them to think and a creative solution comes with the effect that they are

aware that you are listening. So by listening and also just making sure that

you seeking clarity to them is it what I am understanding you are… because

now, you are giving feedback as well what do you try and understand from

a person it allows that creative thinking. You will find that as long people

leave you thinking that actually I came up with a solution to the issue that I

brought to the person, so that is where I found creative solution of problem

solving comes it is very much more about being aware that first somebody

is talking to you and you have to listen… is that when people are listening

that allows the [unclear 0:41:17]...”

“…I think coaching in a way forces the person who is being coached to

think because a lot of the times they do come thinking you going to give

them the answer and so they don’t think and I found that that was a little bit

hard at first I would just be sitting and waiting and waiting you say like

well what would you do… what did you do differently or if you had to deal

with this problem how would you do it and they haven’t thought so it’s like

muscle that you have to kind of have to start using here and train to get

creative thinking going and then you will get more of it…”

“…My previous supervisor was on Sunrise before I was on [unclear

0:19:34] so what happened is that when some of my colleagues even myself

when we go to him and say listen we are stuck and we want to… we want

help because we were not aware of Sunrise then he would essentially coach

us and he became frustrated because we looking for an answer for this thing

and he asked questions for us to figure it out for ourselves, so on [unclear

0:20:02] we would have probably been better for him to sort of say listen,

I’m going to try something new can we try doing it this way instead of me

171

trying to tell you what to do, you can just try this different approach which

is for myself that is what I am doing so instead of just coaching or doing

this thing so people without knowing I would say listen I’ve done this thing

and let’s try this new approach and then see and we can get feedback and

how was it for you so [unclear segment] and they understood why I was not

giving them the answer but were trying to get them to figure out why that

for me it is sort of… I was empowered by being on the course but also

trying to get them to start with some of the stuff that I have learnt [unclear

segment]…”

“…And the sense of letting somebody grow and empowering that person

within their role and letting them make their own decisions and also… so

for me it’s about if I see a challenge the first thing I do is a risk assessment

on okay so if I let this go, where can it potentially end up, and if the risk is

low or medium or whatever, I would let it go and let them figure it out for

themselves and be available if they need help and I wouldn’t that is just the

nature in which I manage the team, I won’t jump in I will only if I see a real

challenge and then I will help but that is how we work so it’s I think they

are empowered and they feel empowered to do and they trust that I will let

them do and handle so I don’t… that probably was I don’t see any it has

always been good in that sense within our team…”











“…Ja they had a module specifically on building trust. So what’s good

with that when people react in a different way you may find that somehow,

there is something that you could have done or you can do to rebuild their

trust. So, it helps you to always be on the lookout, what is my contribution

to this situation, what can I do better, what can I improve. So you are not

always so you are not always on the defensive in the past I would be

defensive, I fight back and I but now, take that step back and say okay,

maybe there is something that I did wrong or something that I could do in a

different way. So in that way, it was good…”






52. Taught me to manage conflict.

172



“…within the tool that they use from the very first module was this [unclear

0:14:00] structure of interpretation so once that was embedded in my that

we all interpret things differently it became easy for me to be aware so

when we do these things or when we work like this, when we talk like this

or when we behave like this, this is where different people are coming from

and the way I react or respond because this is where I am coming from so I

do understand where there is a conflict or I do understand where… so

therefore it gave me a tool to say okay, this is how I can avoid conflict, this

is how I can avoid being misunderstood because I’ve got a base of

understanding that they come from a different place where I come from so

it became a tool for me to be built to understand where I fit into the position

but even where others fit into my role in the organization…”








“…For me as well Sunrise opened a different way of thinking in terms of

how one approaches a situation, how one approaches a situation whether it

is network or whether you are at home or different environments, how you

approach a difficult situation as opposed to in the past just coming head on

and just placing the situation and switching it around that the one you are

speaking to feels more comfortable rather than coming with an attacking

type of mind set, what have you done so that has really improved [unclear

0:02:50]…”














173



























“…Sunrise has definitely allowed me to improve my relationship with the

people that I have interacted with on the ground so that I can satisfy my

main customer [unclear 0:43:14] and it’s important that I maintain those

good relationships with those people in transport and be it refinery, be it in

sales in the Middle East or wherever so that I can fulfil my role otherwise I

break down the relationship and I don’t get the best how to be able to feed

my main customers…”

“…INTERVIEWER: Is there the notion of putting yourself in the

shoes of the other?

PARTICIPANT: Yes exactly I’ve got to put myself in their shoes to

understand what it is and make them understand that I understand what they

are going through what makes life difficult for them and make them

know… it is like this comment that says people don’t care what they

[unclear 0:43:50] so making them know that you actually care about the

situation [unclear 0:44:01] and still making them know that you understand

they kind of a willing to how can I say, to satisfy your need as well because

you have another customer to serve and then also as I said understanding

your customer knowing who he is he is going to be presenting to knowing

53. Positively influenced my ability

to deal with clients/customers.

174

who it is who is asking the question and what each one of them need is

what needs to be fed when you respond to them because you could just

okay this is the way I respond and do that in a blanket manner and you

don’t satisfy the customer…”

“…Just on that and what has been said around the customer I mean Sunrise

is basically helped me to understand that you got to understand each one of

those customers I mean for instance the leadership deal and my colleague

mentioned now about when you busy interacting with a scientist you can

speak at that level so clients communicating finance to a non-financial

manager so don’t assume that your customer knows what you are talking

about it has allowed you to treat each one of them differently and know

what each one needs so that the one needs you do go into detail the other

one doesn’t actually care about the detail so it’s about understanding each

ones need as a different customer and not say [unclear 0:47:58]…”

“…I think the one thing for us I don’t know if some of you have used it, but

it just you have met some Sunrise buddies and just using them as just sort

of something when you want to bounce something off and your thinking

and just to be able to kind of engage because you don’t have that coach

anymore, and then having someone who has been through the training is

human, [unclear segment] so it helps to maybe keep the network because if

your don’t use the things and that is the thing sometimes I think I should

have gone back to my little guy and should have handled this differently

and just being able to make sometimes when something material enough to

bounce off another Sunrise buddy and just get through your thinking

obviously so listening more, but yes…”

“…I find that people that you at Sunrise with you kind of have a bond with

them so if you it’s just like an understanding almost that you meet up with

someone they going to work with someone that went through Sunrise with

you there is always that history that share history. I don’t deal with a lot of

people from the refinery but the people from the refinery that were on

Sunrise with us, always have special relationships I bumped into two of

them last week when I went to the refinery for a meeting and it’s always

like “hi, how are you?” and the catching up with them, whereas before I

wouldn’t have had a relationship with them other than just on an occasional

basis bumping into them…”

“…INTERVIEWER: So it helped creating a bond?

PARTICIPANT: It helped creating bonds that stretched beyond the

actual program that you still find today…”

“…INTERVIEWER: But, do you think that these bonds were

typical for this particular type of training or could it have happened in any

kind of work frame that you would get?

PARTICIPANT: I think it’s a lot of it this particular time because

54. Widened my professional

network.

175

especially in your coaching circle the degree to which you made yourself

vulnerable and exposed yourself and really opened up and where other

people opened up and shared with you it had that kind of almost enforced

intimacy into that, but along with that, what was necessary to that was trust

and so that trust doesn’t just go away because the program ended and I

think that’s what is kind of still carrying us forward…”

“…To me I got to interact with the final people through Sunrise that I have

never met that I never knew like other people from VCO and already after

the Sunrise when I have had to do business with those people, it was easy it

was quite simple in it and to me that starting point of having a diversity in

there actually broadens how we are interacting with customers. And when

we come back it is quite easy to interact I mean it’s like you kind of share a

common goal or you share a common understanding so it is quite easy to do

business with at least the starting point. Sometimes if I don’t even know

who to contact in that particular area I would contact my Sunrise buddy and

say this is what I am looking to do, that I am looking for whatever and he

will direct you to the right person so it’s kind of that you have contacts in

the business because that was a close group for 18 months that you shared

quite closely so there is a deeper relationship so it kind of helps you now

when you have to service or when you have to interact with the

Chairman..”

“…I think it was a very good program, it was the first time actually I

experienced coaching, so it was good in a sense that it enforced self-

reflection, it enforced how you come across and why people react the way

they do when you come across like that. It enforces thinking back, look

back just for yourself to say how did I handle that or would I handle it

better…”

55. Enforced my self-reflection.

“…It enforces getting, seeking feedback, it’s hard to get constructive

feedback or negative feedback but what it taught me personally was

feedback is not totally wrong or it’s not totally a bad thing and we can

choose out of the negative feedback what to take and what not to take. It

doesn’t necessarily mean just because you get negative feedback all of it is

for you, you can just sift through that. So it taught me to accept feedback,

to seek feedback, to self-correct, just work on me basically things that are

under my control…”

“…Ja. I think that goes for me and as well it, I think it taught me not to

react to situation but to respond to situation. So there is big difference

between the two because obviously when someone gives you feedback

whether it is constructive or whatever, you out up your guard and you want

to respond and in your mind already you have got stuff to like to kind of

respond to that person back. So it’s, ja, it taught me not to react to situation

rather to respond. Ja, that was what’s good for me…”

56. Taught me to give, seek and

accept constructive feedback.

176

“…what it taught me was I can influence what happens around me and

when I get feedback, I listen and I try to internalise and use it to improve

myself. So from what I learnt was, there is constructive but all the

feedback is to your advantage whether it’s you like it or you don’t like it. If

you don’t like it, you will learn what you change about yourself too in your

interactions. So I learnt to listen more…”


probably ask people for something, I aways ask myself those questions that

































through…”

“…I have seen and following on your point in terms of giving certain

people feedback almost pre them being on the program and post them being

on the program it has been very different initially kind of defensiveness and

177

why… you trying to point out things that are wrong with me, but I am fine

and then through people having been on the program I have seen I mean

there are certain colleagues in your department for example that our

relationship has completely changed and should I provide feedback now

they really understand the intention of where that feedback is coming from

and so the way we are able to work together now because they are more

open and so we are able to get through so many things in a much better way

between our two departments because of that for it is almost just a pre

Sunrise and you see this transformation happening. And I am not just

saying it’s the person I interact with that person, but for me that has been if

I think of impact to the business that kind of working together and

collaboration which wasn’t possible before it is possible once both people

have been answered by us…”

“…INTERVIEWER: So you let others give you feedback?

PARTICIPANT: Yes, directly so I gave them an opportunity to

anonymously just say what you think now whether you have seen any

improvements so that did come out and I’m definitely more I think relaxed

in my role in a sense like yes the work gets done, but there is the team and

just the way in which you work and open yourself up to that extent as well

because that is what it is about I guess is putting up those barriers and

saying this is work so we only work here and that’s it and get done. I have

grown a lot in that sense and I think the team appreciates it as well that is

clear now so it’s a good experience…”

“…So it taught me to accept feedback, to seek feedback, to self-correct, just

work on me basically things that are under my control…”

178

“…Ja and I think the other thing that, in terms of building relationships,

sometimes you are this person that everybody goes to when they want

something done right and they know it’s going to get done and sometimes

you lack on other stuff and you don’t treat like let’s say situations the same.

So I think what it helped me was to be able to say fine, I understand, you

want me to do this but I can’t now can we negotiate better like the time that

I will be able to give you your deliverables. Because I have got other

priorities So now people are able to see that you, you are not missing your

deadlines because you are kind of taking everything now they are able to

trust that okay, if I go to ... [inaudible] we can be able to negotiate and then

but I know that I will get my deliverable. So I think then people get to trust

and yes to know that you will deliver…”

“…PARTICIPANT: It did, it did. Because I think previously I was not

able to say no, I can’t do this now I will just take it and somehow figure it

out and scrub around and try to do something for someone... [interjects]

INTERVIEWER: So you would take it on yourself?

PARTICIPANT: I would take it on myself, yes and then struggle with it

but now…

INTERVIEWER: At your own expense?

PARTICIPANT: At my own expense but now I am able to say I am busy

to, one to five I have got other priorities so can we negotiate, when can I

deliver this for you and, so ja.

INTERVIEWER: So also a question of assertiveness?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Because you are able to say not now, later.

PARTICIPANT: Yes, I am not saying no but I am saying not now but

later so ja, so the negotiating part. So it builds a relationship with people

because now you are not missing your deadlines because they know at least

you have said not this date but on that date. And then yes, so…”






for example.


57. Increased my assertiveness.

179










“…So I do think it has done that, I am no longer afraid, I don’t, not that I

don’t care but I want to make sure that what my view is known, I want to

make sure that I have got input if, I do have I am not the kind of person

who is going to talk for the sake of talking. But if I have got input, I want it

to be known. If I have got a view, I want it to be known. So its empowered

me not to be afraid, it doesn’t matter who is there, whether it’s the CEO

whether it’s the GM, if I have got a view, I put that up because and I think

it’s the true therapy. Previously I probably think five times before I do that

many times I will be like no, actually it’s not that…”

“…If I feel strongly about something, I speak about it and I make it very

known and I know that the feedback that I get from people I think they get

a bit, I am not sure whether it’s in, not intimidated because its senior people

that I am talking about. But I think they know that I am going to challenge

it, I don’t just let things slide. It doesn’t matter whether they end up still

doing whatever they are going to do, but I make sure that you know I

challenge, I ask questions and as a result a person comes prepared they

don’t just come and tell me this is what is going to happen in this. I will

ask questions, I will ask if they have looked and other you know options

and whether they have seen the various risks and how are they going to

mitigate for those risks because it’s a possibility. So it makes them think I

have influenced lot and I have changed some decisions. So I do think it

actually, for me, it really did work and I am still work in progress, self-

reflection because it’s, I acknowledge it’s a journey, it’s not something that

you can just do overnight. I learn from you know other people that have

been there to see Vuseko doing something or saying something like wow, I

would actually like to use that you know next time I am faced with

something similar. So it helps in that way…”

“…Then another impact is now you will deliberately go out to influence

your position, your job that okay, I must do this job and then it will ...

[inaudible] to support me. You go out to them, you are not, scared of

confronting them, you are prepared, you know who can assist you to be

more effective in that position. So, I believe it will definitely assist with the

180

job satisfaction, yes…”

“…and the newly found voice that I have now where I am not afraid to test

that to other people to have my views and my opinions, I do think it’s given

me light…”

“…INTERVIEWER: So you are talking about interpretation of rules?

There is rules and then the way you interpret that depends very much on the

people that you have around the table. So you will be more daring to say:

these things can also be seen that way?


“…it has changed in the sense that before, someone will come to you with

something I need this done then I will never ask why and then probably

someone will say can you help us with this and I will say okay I will help

but now I think I will ask the question why do we need to do it what’s

happening so I need more information…”

“…I think now people they come prepared to say Vuyi we need to help this

is happening this is what what so I will kind of get all that information

before I even ask for it because of the way I have been probing to say you

want to do to this why do you want to do this what happening? Have you

done it before? What’s the learning there is that probing that I been doing to

people especially contractors because they just come and say we need this

signed we need this done so I am saying why? So I am saying what’s

happening give me information so now they come prepared with all that

information because they know I am going to ask those questions…”

“…Me it has the term that I support in the past when they always come to

me with questions and I give answers answers now what has changed when

they come to question it I probe some more, ask some more questions they

end up coming with a solution themselves now you find out that is no

creativity on their part they are getting the job done without involving me

to in to much detail with the new contractors. But what it has changed in

the fact that I am actually no longer stressing that I am not going to like

what going to happen now I am getting the results I am even contributing

most of my time in it. ... [inaudible] in that way there is a difference.”

“…before Sunrise I found it difficult to say no when people come and ask

for help from me so I would tend to be overloaded because I had too much

on my plate but since Sunrise I think you are able to say no, but not just…

say no with options say I can’t do it now, but I can do it for you this time or

come back after a certain time so that I can negotiate what I can do in a

sense and I mean people initially when the [unclear 0:08:31] because I am

saying no, or I am not saying yes initially but I mean after a while they

started getting used to this new sort of me of negotiating if I can’t do it

181

now, I can do it later. At home and even my church I mean I was one of

those back benches and I would probably through the confidence that I

gained through Sunrise I found myself not standing up for leadership

questions, but being can you do this and I would go into it and then using

those tools and even they do work… I find this side of me which I never

knew that it existed and people are reacting positively to it…”

“…It helps in that it hold us accountable, we all have to be accountable at

some point for our actions. So it also helps in that people now know there

are things that they can’t do which they used to get away with because

nobody asked about it, nobody challenged them. It’s not an easy thing but

in my room, my room is more influencing because I can’t force people to

do stuff but I can influence them, I can show them the risks, I can show

them the process. Having done all of that and they still insist there is

nothing much I can do…”

“…But I think I have seen a change in that people are more respected, they

are open and in fact they seek my opinion, somebody is going to come and

say this is what I am thinking of doing, this is why I am thinking of doing it

so what do you think. And, ja that kind of respect as well that people

respect your opinion and they understand where you are coming from

because I am also just doing my job, I am not doing what Lolo will be

doing, it is my job to make sure that we do things the right way…”

“…I do think that new found respect for example where if people are

coming for assistance they come prepared or if they have got you know

decided the main decision and some of them they come prepared in terms

58. Increased the level of

accountability within the

company.

182

of why they made that decision and the impact it’s going to have. I do

think it depends to a certain extend but yes I think it has because I mean

those are the people that we interact with on a day to day basis…”

“…I think most frustrations for employees is not having people hearing

them, not having heard, not being able to hear the voice, not yes and also

not being able to have a voice because they are afraid to have an opinion,

they are afraid to once that happens you know that even if that person

doesn’t do it, at least they know how I feel. It does make a little bit of a

change in terms of how you feel as a person generally…”

59. Lowered work-related frustration.

“…Then another impact is now you will deliberately go out to influence

your position, your job that okay, I must do this job and then it will ...

[inaudible] to support me. You go out to them, you are not, scared of

confronting them, you are prepared, you know who can assist you to be

more effective in that position. So, I believe it will definitely assist with the

job satisfaction, yes…”

60. Increased work-related

satisfaction.

“…for me it’s also asking around for opinion, for, just as more questions

from others so they come up, their own opinion.

INTERVIEWER: So it will be consulting the colleagues?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

PARTICIPANT: It’s not only my opinion, so I try to involve others in

that decision making. So you do get to get solutions that you never thought

of when you ask. So what I meant was ask, ask ask…”








61. Made me ask for opinion

(consult) more often.

“…INTERVIEWER: So globally can you say that it facilitated

communication that it improved communication between you and

colleagues?

PARTICIPANT: Yes I would say so…”

“…it opens your eyes as to how important it is to have a relationship in a

working environment because you have to have the trust, you have to have

different conversations and how you view that person and you interact with

that person is important, so for me, I tried harder to make sure that when I

am within my team and with my colleagues that I am not only just focused

on work, it’s about making them feel more at ease, communicating and just

62. Improved communication within

the company.

183

opening yourself up to being present in that environment rather than just

come and have a meeting and get to it and leave. So for me it definitely

opened up my eyes to the fact that to have the relationship is important

within the work environment because it helps collaboration and

communication and that…”

“…If I am sending a signal of imposing my own interpretation on them

they [unclear 0:16:12] impose theirs. But, if I am showing acceptance of

where they come from then it is easy for them to accept where I come from

so we always have to find that middle ground when there is a conflict but I

found it in most cases because I had been in a program you have that one

step of self-awareness you can anticipate…”

“…I think post Sunrise I did more face to face communication and didn’t

rely on email as much because I felt more confident to do that…”

“…So I think that it was about being courageous to have the conversation

and understanding different perspectives so I didn’t just always type it up I

would get up and go and speak to the person or I would have a meeting face

to face rather than hide behind email. That I think changed the level of

engagement that I had within my own team, my work environment and

with other colleagues as well…”

“…one of the things that Sunrise helped me to do, was to be face to face

meaning before you send something to some people go and engage with

them is this what they want… is this their right interpretation of the

information that is required especially when you report upwards so you

have to almost learn to speak to your colleagues more other than relying on

email or a slide of a graph because other people will understand, but that

doesn’t mean that you have engaged because you have presented data. So

one of the things of engagement is that I learnt to have the confidence to

say although I hide behind the slide or [unclear 0:33:11] more confidence in

speaking…”

“…I think with the help of the coaching it doesn’t allow me to look at

something as okay this person needs this, how can I respond if I can’t get it,

how can I frame that so that it is not seen as a rejection but you get that

person’s understanding of your challenges etcetera so that relationship

becomes a l little bit more positive instead of just a closed thing where you

just try to pack everything away because you’ve got so much work or

whatever…”

“…with the tools that I have acquired from Sunrise I am able to engage

people more and really I’m not only benefitting myself but the company as

well is benefitting as well…”

“…For me as well Sunrise opened a different way of thinking in terms of

how one approaches a situation, how one approaches a situation whether it

184

is network or whether you are at home or different environments, how you

approach a difficult situation as opposed to in the past just coming head on

and just placing the situation and switching it around that the one you are

speaking to feels more comfortable rather than coming with an attacking

type of mind set, what have you done so that has really improved [unclear

0:02:50]…”

“…I was a very activist no, competiveness like somebody is talking to you

and then you kind there goes your mind or you kind of already say okay

you going there so just let us get to the point kind of thing but there it

opened my eyes in that sense and I think I did the 360 beginning of Sunrise

and those topics came out, topics like competitive listening, anti-social kind

of behavior also wanting to just get the work done, don’t really want to

mingle with the team and all of those softer things so that came out and

then I did through my coach I asked the team that I worked with to share

their feedback at the end of Sunrise and send it directly to my coach and

very positive so very positive things, and I can obviously feel that within

the team…”



























185


collaboration…”

“…it opens your eyes as to how important it is to have a relationship in a

working environment because you have to have the trust, you have to have

different conversations and how you view that person and you interact with

that person is important, so for me, I tried harder to make sure that when I

am within my team and with my colleagues that I am not only just focused

on work, it’s about making them feel more at ease, communicating and just

opening yourself up to being present in that environment rather than just

come and have a meeting and get to it and leave. So for me it definitely

opened up my eyes to the fact that to have the relationship is important

within the work environment because it helps collaboration and

communication and that…”


















collaboration..”

“…For me yes there has definitely been an improvement in my ability to

build relationships I have had comments in fact since having attended

Sunrise I had comments to the fact that I am actually quite a nice person

[speaking simultaneously]. So it definitely has had an impact on my ability

to build relationships with people. I tended to be very cold to say things

black and white and not considering what impact it is having on the other

side, but now it’s a kind of like let us just pause a bit and think about how

you going to frame this, and just make that other person feel more

comfortable so it has definitely had a huge impact on my ability to build a

relationship be it in the office, be it in even with colleagues, offshore

because you know often you tend to hide behind the email and you say

things, and even that has changed Sunrise has just opened up the ability to

sit back and think about differently how do you want to get the best out of

63. Improved work relationships.

186

that person rather than just blast him…”

“…For me it also definitely I would say definitely gives you tools to help

build and strengthen relationships because I’m a do they call it an activist

now, so it is something that I needed to work on…”





courageous conversation with the mindset that she wants to take you











down…”

“…I was frustrated because I would learn all these wonderful tools and I

would get de-motivated coming back into the work environment because

nobody was on the same wave length as me…”

64. Generated frustration when

dealing with colleagues who do

not have the same level of

understanding.

“…So I think that it was about being courageous to have the conversation

and understanding different perspectives so I didn’t just always type it up I

would get up and go and speak to the person or I would have a meeting face

to face rather than hide behind email. That I think changed the level of

engagement that I had within my own team, my work environment and

with other colleagues as well…”

65. Improved work engagement.

“…I don’t have direct reports I have an influencing role so what was… I

would say Sunrise empowered me because I tend to be a bit of a top green

and I must do everything perfect I must know everything so I used to find it

difficult to engage others and ask them for ideas or ask them listen I’m

battling with this because I am in this role I’m supposed to be the expert in

this role and how can I not know so it empowered me that actually to

[unclear 0:24:57] others it empowered me to trust others that they would

not think I am stupid if I am asking this question or if a question is asked

and I said actually I don’t know now, but I will go find out so for me it was

oh God I didn’t know, how could I not know so it empowered me to

actually feel afraid about no knowing something or about going to find out

because actually that is a positive of getting best tracks from others benefits

this work that you are doing then that had an empowering effect on me

66. Empowered me.

187

actually…”









probably ask people for something, I always ask myself those questions that













The impact of Integral Coaching on leadership …...who took part in the Integral Coaching programme (also known as Sunrise Leadership Program), a diverse range of perspectives on

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